Making Gods out of Heroes III

South Indian cinema’s culture of hero-worship and ignoring toxic masculinity has also put women in the industry in a disturbing position. Patriarchy is embedded so much so that women are subjected to objectification.

Oo Antava, source: India.com

Such reverence for heroes encourages the idea of toxicity as a qualitative trait. The industry ignored such problematic behaviors that didnot give women space, either on-screen or on the cutouts. In rare cases, women who can acquire space in the cut-outs are not for revering but for objectification.

Uma Vangal also mentions the existence of larger-than-life posters of women used to drive the crowd to itself by creating erotic cut-outs.

Praminda Jacobs, agreeing with Vangal, further notes that women are only given a little space in the South Indian cinema, so much so that they remain sex objects. Another interesting point is that women are either used as sex objects, trophy wives, or as someone to be idealized, who sacrifices her life for the hero, therefore ignoring her humaneness.

Women are also used for tokenism, like the song from ‘Pusha: The Rise’. However, the item song proposes very modern lyrics, criticising men’s sexist behavior. However, it is just any other item song that objectifies women.

‘Oo Antava’ “despite the seemingly progressive lyrics, the song is rarely a departure from the item songs we have had before. The problem with Oo Antava is that the lyrics are antithetical to the video. Harassment is normalised throughout the song, and the presentation is carefully crafted to make it appear as if the actress is enjoying the harassment, ” writes Natasa Aziz.

Thus, it could be seen very clearly that the South Indian Cinema has set a specific narrative of toxic masculinity as the need of the hour.

The narrative is so strong that it can penetrate other industries through dubbing and re-making of movies. As a result of a long ongoing culture, such toxicity is idolized.