Sirai


Sirai is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by R. C. Sakthi. It is based on Anuradha Ramanan's 1980 short story of the same name. The film stars Rajesh, Prasanna, Pandiyan, Lakshmi and Ilavarasi. It follows a woman who, after being raped by an inebriated man, is disowned by her priest husband. After being encouraged by a kind policeman, she moves in with the rapist and develops an attachment for him.
Sirai was released on 22 November 1984. Despite receiving criticism from Brahmin organisations who demanded it be banned, the film received critical acclaim, particularly for Lakshmi's performance, and became a commercial success, with a theatrical run of over 100 days.

Plot

In an inebriated state, Anthony, a landlord, rapes Bhagirathi, the wife of a Brahmin priest. When her husband rejects her, she moves in with her rapist and eventually develops an attachment for him. Following Anthony's death, she prefers to be known as his widow and refuses to rejoin her husband.

Cast

Sirai was a short story written by Anuradha Ramanan and published in 1980. The story, which was published in the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan, won a gold medal for the best short story. When Anandhi Films approached R. C. Sakthi to direct a film for them, he suggested to adapt the short story for the screen, and they agreed despite initial hesitance. Sakthi wrote the film adaptation's screenplay, while Mohan of Anandhi produced the film. Cinematography was handled by Vishwam-Nataraj. Rajesh played the rapist-landlord Anthony, Lakshmi played the rape victim Bhagirathi and Prasanna played her priest husband. Pandiyan appeared in a subplot as a farm-worker wooing a politician's daughter, played by Ilavarasi. Most of the film was shot on actual locales, with minimal use of sets, although shooting also took place at Vauhini Studios. It was made as a CinemaScope film. When the film was screened for distributors, some of them and Sakthi's friends suggested to change the climax, but an adamant Sakthi released the film as it was.

Themes

Sirai, like many of Sakthi's films, is a women-centric film. Journalist Kumuthan Maderya, writing for PopMatters, described it as following the stockholm syndrome trope, and as an early "Beauty and the Beast"-type story in Tamil cinema. In the book Women in Films: An Incisive Study Into the Issues and Trends, R. Kannan wrote that Sirai "boldly attempted to express the view that by merely tying Tali a man cannot become a husband." He also felt it was the inverse of most Tamil films which used to exalt the tali sentiment.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by M. S. Viswanathan while the lyrics were written by Pulamaipithan, Muthulingam and Piraisoodan. The film marked Piraisoodan's cinematic debut; he wrote the song "Rasathi Rosapoo Vektam Eno Innum", while Muthulingam wrote "Paathukko", and Pulamaipithan wrote "Naan Paadikkonde Iruppen", and "Vidhi Enum Karangalil". "Naan Paadikkonde Iruppen" is set in the Carnatic raga known as Shyama.

Release

Sirai was released on 22 November 1984. The film received an "A" certificate after 10 cuts. Although criticised by Brahmin organisations who demanded for it to be banned, the film received critical acclaim and became a commercial success, with a 100-day theatrical run. It was released on DVD in 2002 by Pyramid Films.

Reception

In a review dated 23 December 1984, Ananda Vikatan mentioned that the film's screenplay was more engaging and intense than Anuradha Ramanan's short story, praised the performance of Lakshmi, and rated the film 56 out of 100. Film historian S. Theodore Baskaran, in his 1996 book The eye of the serpent, felt that much of the film's impact was diluted by elements like the cabaret dance, duets and a fight sequence along with clichéd devices like using obesity for comic effect, all of which he described as the "trappings of a run-of-the-mill commercial movie". Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema by Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen concurred, feeling they were inserted for "box-office reasons". Baskaran added that the passage of years that Bhagirathi spends in Anthony's house had not been depicted "visually at all", but described Lakshmi's performance as the "high point" of the film. Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema stated that Lakshmi gave an "accomplished repeat performance of a rape victim" after Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal.

Impact

Sirai was one of the earliest Tamil films to explore the relationship between the rapist and the victim. It also emerged a "landmark" in Rajesh's career. Critic Baradwaj Rangan compared Pudhea Paadhai to Sirai as "both revolve around a rapist who is reformed by the rape survivor". Maderya felt that both the films "advance an atavistic moral solution to the problem of rape."