The Women of Kandukondain Kandukondain



I’ve always liked all the female characters in Kandukondain Kandukondain because:
  • They don’t show women as frivolous, aimless, and dependent like movies these days do
  • The characterization is as realistic as it is revolutionary.

Meenakshi (Aishwarya Rai)


She is idealistic and a hopeless romantic - her head is in the clouds and she is a bit of a flibbertigibbet. 

However:
  • She has an independent mind. 
  • She doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. 
  • She is not satisfied with staying at home doing nothing to support her family.
  • Meenakshi knows her talents and uses them to contribute financially to her family. 
  • She rejects the married Srikanth, displaying her dignity. 
  • And the maturity she shows when finally choosing her life partner teaches us all about what really matters.
Sowmya (Tabu)
  • Sowmya is independent and capable from the start.
  • She feels real when she lets the perception of “raasi illathava” (bad luck bringer) get to her heart. 
  • She immediately looks for a job in Chennai instead of looking for Manohar. 
  • Sowmya works her way up the ranks at work and lifts her family’s quality of life. 
  • She rejects her ancestral property, showing that self-reliance is honorable.
  • She fiercely opposes dowry - while creating her own financial security.
  • Seemingly contained, she lets her chagrin and disappointment out finally and realizes that raasi is BS - your life is what you make it.

Padma (Srividya)

Though a boomer in some aspects...
  • I love how she doesn’t interfere in her daughters’ choices, their life partners in particular. 
  • She never said, “But he’s lame and much older than you,” when Meenu says she loves Bala. 
  • This is something quite rare in Indian mothers/parents. 
Kamala (Shamili)
  • The genius of the family. 
  • Her crush is CV Raman, not some cinema hero. 
  • She is curious and studious - she asks for orchid specimens at Bala’s flower farm.
Chinnaatha (S.N Letchumi)
  • She stayed loyal and loving to the family 
  • She didn't ditch them when they are at their worst.

Perhaps the women of Kandukondain Kandukondain are so progressive because Jane Austen characterized them in her novel, "Sense and Sensibility" which inspired the film.

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