From one Mani Ratnam woman to another - A thread exclusive for women.
A Mani Ratnam woman is known for her courage, individuality and will be recognized by her emotions.

Celebrating them, them in us, us in them, you, me and everyone who is courageous to know what they want.

Late evening. The vast sky suddenly darkens, streetlights gleam faintly and your surroundings are glowing an orange. A thunderstorm follows a loud cracking sound — the streets are wet. You are on the road drenched in rain only to dance on terrace after reaching your shelter.

Your charms take many forms — boisterous, playful, sultry, erudite, standoffish, sensible. You’re notoriously playful at first, which may deceive people about your goat-like stubbornness.

So you cavort freely in the rain, chase the men you want, jump into their balconies at night, cross states to meet them outside their gates, have endless conversations in buses and trains, wink at them and mouth ‘I love you’ at traffic signals.

You’re your own woman. Whether it’s in your married home trying to feed a stray cat, dining with your mother’s second husband at a restaurant, stealthily wetrying cigarettes with friends, having sex with a guy in your hostel room -

waiting alone at the steps of the registrar’s office to get married, trying to secure your husband’s release from terrorists, marrying a Hindu man and leaving your muslim family behind, taking on upper caste men in the village following your father’s death.

You’re an Anjali, Indira, Anu, Neela, Chitra, Roja, Kalpana, Pushpavalli, Meghna, Shakti, Shaila Banu, Meera, Tara — names that weren’t really heard much of in that decade, nevertheless, delicious names that rolled off people’s tongues and on to newborn baby girls.

Your heart is full of burdens. You love him but you don’t know how to express it and your wonder if he loves you back; if he would ever say it out loud.

Taking their own decisions, choosing how their life has to be, speaking their mind out and at times, being real stubborn – to me, these are what characterize the women in Mani Ratnam’s movies.

Of course, some of their decisions do get influenced by their parents or others around them. But that, definitely, doesn’t make them any less than what they are. They grow up into women that have had a hell of a journey.

When we think of a strong or a bold woman, more often than not our minds visually presume the woman to look tomboyish or a woman who is inexplicably rude or a woman who doesn’t surrender or doesn’t conform to the evidently chauvinistic definition of “Feminineness”.

Mani Ratnam changed this notion when he gave us characters who highlighted that a woman can be both feminine and strong. Women who can love a man with all her soul but still can stand up for herself when it gets too much, women who are not too weak to succumb into pressures.

That being said, if a 60+ year old man can imagine and write a character inspired from the realism around him, I am sure that we can all find strength to fight our problems, find courage to make our decisions and find purpose to fulfill our lives.

Dear women,
Let's fight!