Magalir Mattum director Bramma on Jyothika-starrer: 'Women's empowerment has to start at home'

Director Bramma, who has a strong theater background with hundreds of street plays to his credit, is upbeat about his sophomore Tamil feature film Magalir Mattum (Women Only), which stars Jyothika in the lead role. “After Kuttram Kadithal, my producer Christy and I were trying to get in touch with Suriya’s 2D Entertainment since they were on the lookout for meaningful scripts that revolve around women or children. Then, I got an opportunity to narrate an idea to Jyothika ma’am. She liked it and asked me to develop the script. She was the first person to whom I narrated the entire screenplay, over four and a half hours. In that sense, Jo was the first critic and audience for Magalir Mattum. She was also the first person to visualise the entire movie. Even I didn’t picture any sequence in my mind until then,” said Bramma, in a chat with Firstpost. [caption id=“attachment_4038395” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Jyothika in the poster for Magalir Mattum; (R) director Bramma[/caption] Bramma’s hard-hitting directorial debut Kuttram Kadithal, which was centered on the flaws in the education system, toured many film festivals before it won the National Award for the ‘Best Feature Film in Tamil’ in March 2015. But it took nearly six months for Kuttram Kadithal to see the light of the day, finally hitting theatre screens in September 2015. “While it was an ordeal to get Kuttram Kadithal to theaters, working on Magalir Mattum has been a smooth journey,” said Bramma. “Jo’s eagerness to do this film encouraged me to work on the project with full vigor. She had a child-like enthusiasm while working on the film and performed every scene with utmost conviction.” The only thing that Bramma forced Jyotika to do, was to dub in her own voice for the film. “I felt that her voice perfectly suited the role of Prabhavathy, a documentary filmmaker and I insisted she dub, to provide authenticity to the character. Her voice brings some genuineness and honesty to the role, which the dubbing artists cannot offer.” Bramma says it’s a just a coincidence that both his films (Kuttram Kadithal and Magalir Mattum) revolve around women characters. “I was not deliberately planning to make back-to-back women-centric films. My next two movies will deal with different subjects and genres. There are a lot of inspiring women in my life, and I derive my characters from them. My mother is a true inspiration to me. Magalir Mattum and my mom share a connection. My wife, friends, and colleagues; everyone is an inspiring factor. I wanted to mention an old lady named Selvi Amma who earns her living by doing laundry. Even when her house was inundated during the Chennai floods, she came to my home to work. I was inspired by her too,” said Bramma. Bramma says Magalir Mattum is a light-hearted, feel-good family drama which celebrates women. “This film is a celebration of women. It will make the audience celebrate the women in their lives. We should inculcate mutual respect and empathy for both genders and that is what I have tried to do in Magalir Mattum.” [caption id=“attachment_4038397” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]

Jyothika in a still from Magalir Mattum[/caption] Asked if his film shares anything in common with the yesteryear Tamil film Magalir Mattum, directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and produced by Kamal Haasan, Bramma explained, “The old Magalir Mattum dealt with the difficulties faced by working women and stressed on harassment at the workplace. Our film brings to light the plight of homemakers, but it’s not meant only for them. This movie is primarily for men. I want more men to watch this film, than women.” Bramma agrees that insensitive portrayal of women in films sets a bad precedence, and bats for a responsible approach towards writing women characters. “The lack of respect for women led me to write this story. Respect in all forms – economically, socially and culturally – is lacking among men (for the other gender). Even our movies are to be blamed. Our films are generally written for men and women characters just serve as tools to support our male protagonists. Very rarely we get to see independent women in our movies. All these character arcs sub-consciously feed audiences the idea that women are the inferior gender. This insensitive portrayal of women is what ignites someone to indulge in sexual violence and acid attacks years later,” said Bramma. In the film’s teaser, there is a dialogue where Urvashi explains how she has fervently cooked her husband lakhs of dosas since she got married. Jyothika’s retort ‘Has your husband ever cooked a dosa for you?’ struck a chord with viewers and the makers capitalised on the same by conducting a ‘Dosa Challenge’ contest a few months ago where husbands were asked to make _dosa_s for their wives and post a picture of the same, on Twitter and Facebook. When asked about how he conceived the idea, Bramma attributes it to a writer named Ambai and her short story ‘Velippaadu’. “Ambai mentioned a conversation about dosa in her story. I read that a year ago, and I wanted to use it in the script and teaser. We talk a lot about women’s empowerment, but the real empowerment is not just at the workplace — it has to start right from the home, from the dining table,” said Bramma. Produced by Suriya’s home banner 2D Entertainment, Magalir Mattum features an all-star cast of veteran actors such as Urvashi, Bhanupriya, Saranya Ponvannan, Nassar, and Livingston. The film, which has music composed by Ghibran, is all set for a 15 September release.