Dude Roast

 

One line review: Dude tries to please both progressive and regressive audiences and fails at both - while succeeding at being shallow.

1. A woman proposes and the man she proposes to cracks a bawdy joke.

Progressive: Woman proposing - appeals to progressive audience.

Regressive: Man uses a blue film reference to the kneeling position  - appeals to regressive male audience.

2. Kural proposes marriage to Agan without even asking if he has mutual feelings for her.

She assumes that he loves her because he's her first cousin. I saw this in Romeo Juliet as well. How can people assume such things? It's like an arranged marriage setup - everything works presumptuously. 

3. Nuptial thread isn't important - what's important is the girl's heart behind the thread - then proceeds with a dialogue that yarn can't thread a needle without the needle's consent.

Honestly, it was exhausting and confusing at the same time. The film tries too hard to round up divisive audiences. In the process, it left people with a bitter aftertaste.

4. The movie still manages to villainize women: women move on fast, are selfish, and commit with another man immediately after breakup.

The portrayal of women in Dude simply works to boost existing misogyny among red-pilled, anti-feminist young men.

Exhibit 1: Kural moves on and finds another man within 6 months. She doesn't care about Agan's life - goes on to have unprotected sex with Paari and gets pregnant.

Exhibit 2: Agan's ex-girlfriend leaves him and marries an older, well-settled man - migrating to Canada.

And again, the dichotomy comes to play - Agan says that if a girl doesn't like a man, that's it. No answers needed. And then, he goes to her marriage to question why she left her and continues to question her twice after that. The answer is obvious and is designed to fuel misogyny in the typical, unthinking male audience.

5. In what way Keerthiswaran is inspired by Periyar? It deludes me.

Agan decides that only biological children count as children. So, he soft-forces Kural to have the child - coz she won't be able to carry in the future. Periyar? Where?

Kural soft-forces Agan to get married to another woman to ease her guilt - implying that there's no life if one isn't married. Periyar? Where?

6. Dude reaffirms the idea that rationalist men who oppose the caste system aren't by default feminist.

Dude actually upholds #mairuculture. It's message is that life is only meaningful after getting married and having biological children. The best thing Kural could do is go abroad and leave Agan alone - but no, life would be destroyed if one's unmarried according to her. And to ease her guilt, she tries to get Agan a wife.

7. A dialogue against feminism so the movie could hit 100 crores.

Ok, so it's valid to say that men want the women they love to live well - it's just how men are. But the moment it gets questioned in a woman's POV, it's feminism. How convenient... Of course, men don't kill the women who leave or reject them. Only women move on fast and marry another man. 

8. A serious issue like honor-killing and caste pride is downplayed.

Keerthiswaran should've learned from the likes of Pa. Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj. And Paari's character isn't well developed either - he is just Madasamy's father and Kural's lover. There's no way an elderly man who simmered in caste mentality ever since he could make sense of the world, turning over a new leaf that fast.