Asuran - Not a film review.

The more I try to understand about oppression and the caste system, the more I ask myself "why is this so hard to understand?". The answer is one of the two: Either one is not aware of it, or the privilege has soaked in so much that one fails to accept the simple logic which doesn’t require double degrees to reason out. And hence there is a lot of digression that occurs in discussions with tangential arguments which dilute the main point of contention. Especially with privileged and educated people. Their oratory skills are so good that you just tend to get drifted away in a tangential point which has remotely anything to do with the real problem. So people who don’t feel strongly for the topic lean towards the side of accepting that there is no problem at all. I see more and more of that happening lately.

A case in point for the latter is when people called Asuran "violent", "instigating hatred" and a whole bunch of other terms - relating it to world peace. Here's my take on that:

Firstly, The film is given a U/A certification for a reason. If violence shouldn't exist in this world and peace must prevail, it is important to know why violence existed in the first place, what was the problem which triggered it, whether or not the problem still exists and if it does, what's the way forward. And Vetrimaaran has done all of that and more with enough padding and hence the movie does not glorify violence in any way.

Secondly, I think it is double standards when someone glorifies Pariyerum Perumal and reprimands Asuran. That's just privilege talking. So, if the violence was one sided (as in PP where the upper caste folks torture the young man but he doesn't respond because he wants to be left alone) it's okay but if it's two sided (in Asuran's case where Sivasami fights back) it isn't?

Thirdly, I really hope that more directors like Vetrimaaran and Pa.Ranjith come forward. Coz people need to know. People like you and me need to know the history. Our children need to know history - just to be more empathetic and responsible human beings. Just so that they don't end up doing the same mistakes when they have a say.

There's a reason why you and I enjoy labour in our house - Ever wondered why our cooks, maids, drivers, servants are who they are? Why you have the money to watch Asuran in Sathyam Cinemas with extra large popcorn while your sanitary worker on the road doesn't have 50 rupees for his next meal? The more I try to learn about it, the more I find disparity. Disparity which has no logic. Disparity which exists, and will continue to, but will be claimed as pseudo. And anything that increases the gap, in my opinion is evil.

So if you are a person who passes any of "I don't think this is the case anymore" / "I don't think we have that much of a gap between the rich and poor anymore" comments, STOP right there. Please. If you draw monthly salary from a corporate company and can pay your mortgages and put food on the table, you're elite. Your problems are elite problems. Get out there, get to the mass reality and try to understand the lives of the rest of the people who have lived/live in this world.

Any development in this country which has detrimental effect on even one family based on their caste, religion, color, sex is not real development. While this is true for the privileged as well, and they can be on the receiving side of this too (I'm saying it here, coz I've had people arguing that in the pursuit of obtaining equal rights to the oppressed, the privileged are losing theirs), understand - EQUAL RIGHT TO ALL DOES NOT MEAN LESS RIGHT TO YOU.

Asuran - Well done and thank you Vetrimaaran Sir! For strongly conveying the message and telling a story that the world desperately needs to hear.