Rackety biopic of Tamil film
Actor turned politician stars controversy-ridden Kangana Ranaut and seems to reveal more about the latter
The recipient of 2021’s second highest-profile
Twitter ban, Kangana Ranaut has channelled her newfound spare time into a biopic of J Jayalalithaa, Tamil cinema sweetheart turned regional political powerhouse. (Think The Iron Lady, if Margaret Thatcher had enrolled at the Rank charm school.) The result is a hodgepodge of a film, haphazardly passing a long, storied life through the multiplex cookie-cutter. Yet it’s also semi-fascinating, as a project only India’s robustly forgiving star system could now initiate. The true subject often seems to be Ranaut herself – like Jayalalithaa, a woman whose steely ambition provokes both devotion and ire. “Who the heck are you?” barks an opposition MP before a
Congress debate descends into a literal pile-on.
The trajectory certainly mirrors Ranaut’s own: effort is made to court movie lovers, then things get fractious. Director AL Vijay lays on a fun recreation of the 1960s Tamil film business, with its wet-sari numbers and clunky-cute courtships. Throwback scenes have become a staple, but Vijay stages his with craft and detail: the songs are strong, and somebody has sourced period undergarments that moulded the female torso into comically unnatural shapes. We are reminded of Ranaut’s onscreen flexibility: adroitly segueing from gamine to stateswoman, she gets a laugh in passing simply by answering her dressing-room door in a blonde wig. Yet the script approaches politics as a stage-managed dress-up, where you don a sober sari, and sit back to receive the plaudits.