Should we hate 90 ml as much as we hate it now?

Before going to the topic, let me share a small experience of mine with a bus driver.

During Pongal 2014, I was rushing to home from Chennai (where I was studying), and finally I got into an SETC, where the driver offered me to sit behind him on the bench which is supposed to be conductor's sleeping place. He drove it so fast that we reached Tirunelveli in 10 hours (the average journey in SETC takes about 13.5 hours). So, this is a story about a super-driver, not ordinary men.

During the journey, whenever he felt sleepy, he started telling me his past journeys and the interesting characters, whom he had met on bus. There was one interesting story in that, in which he said how a girl fell in love with him, and he had to advice her to find a better person, because he was already married.

He didn't stop there. He kept putting his arguments that women had changed a lot in the past ten years, which was unacceptable. I thought of being the devil's advocate and asked him why he felt so. His reply was, “Think about men before ten years. We were wearing shirt and pants. Men today are also doing the same. But women before ten years were following culture and wearing saree. Today's women wear Chudithar and jeans. That's wrong”.

I stopped my conversation right there, though I wanted to ask him, “Don't men have any sort of cultural wear, which they should be following because our ancestors were wearing that”.

That's a brief introduction to the mentality of a majority of men, in today's India (or Tamil Nadu in specific). I'm confident about men that men wouldn't comment, “Don't you dare generalize us. We all are different”, like how a group of women commented on my post in July 2014. I know men have other weapons against such writings.

Coming to the movie, it was of course a nonsense movie. I can give you all that. Despite that should we hate it as much as we hate it today? That's the important question (because that's what I've written in the title).

The reasons men put forward to hate it as much as they do now seem invalid of all sorts. Here's the list of reasons (or questions raised) and why they're so invalid.

1. Women are like God to us

First of all, if women are Gods, build a temple and worship them. They're more than equal to you all. Don't even imagine having sex with them. Imagine no sex, no flirting, no cooking, no send-off, no carrying your child, no taking care of children etc. Oh! You didn't mean that kind of God. You just meant the God, who would do whatever you ask for. I'm sorry. I didn't know the definition of God.

2. How can you say that all women drink?

Nobody says all women drink. Not even all men drink. We watch movies in which the lead roles have to drink to show that they're socially superior. There was no criticism when Nayantara drank in Raja Rani. There were many such movies. Why now? Was that because, housewives drank? The movie didn't show that every housewife drinks. What if the same rule is applicable to men? What if we ban movies from showing men drink? That would be so alien.

3. Is drinking the only equality you want?

No. There's a lot they want. They ask for freedom to choose what they wanna do with their own life. It should be their choice whether or not to drink. The same applies to men.

4. It's not in our culture

Culture is so undefined for men. Is there even a culture for men? What if men choose to follow culture and from tomorrow, everyone would wear only dhotis to wherever they go? Is it even imaginable? Why culture is so focused on women when it doesn't speak even a word about men? Does culture accept men to drink and smoke? Does culture allow men to stalk? What else does culture allow men to do?

5. Why don't you take a porn movie instead?

Because they don't want to. Leave the adult movies for men. What about mainstream movies that should mandatorily have an item song, and at least one songs where the divine disciplined cultured white skin goddess actress have to do a skin show? Should everyone start doing porn movies?

6. There's gonna be family audience

Family audience don't have to go to this movie. The trailer shows all adult content, so that the audience can choose whether or not to go to the movie. Cinema is not something of a need which you could not restrict to everyone. Frankly, we can't really take family to any movie, because we don't really know when a hot actress would appear and let me stop this here. Peranbu, Thadam, Thirumanam and a few other great movies were running alongside this movie, but unfortunately the great movies saw lower croud than this movie. Unfortunately...

7. Cinema is an art

Wow! Finally I heard someone say it. The same person had chosen Maari 2 over Seethakathi because cinema was …Wait a minute. What?

8. Youngsters would get spoiled on seeing this

Ok. That's true. There was an youngster in my area. He watched Mankatha movie, and started to gamble, cheated on his girlfriend, stolen her father's money, and killed many people. Why is this rule not applicable to other socially irresponsible movies?

9. Can you let your children to watch this movie?

Why would anyone take their children to adult movies? At least theatres don't allow that. The people who ask such questions should really stop watching Bhagyaraj movies at night.

10. Can you show this movie to your parents?

Nice question. Anyone can show this movie to their parents as much as anyone can explain Tamil song lyrics to their parents.

11. Women are not prostitutes

I think this person means “not all women are prostitutes”. Everyone agrees to that. Even in the movie, there was no prostitute. There is no connection between partying and sleeping with everyone. Also, for the convenience of audience, most of the party scenes in the movie were “girls only parties”.

12. A mother like you should not take such a movie

When fathers watch such movies, why shouldn't a mother make such movies? Also, rules are applicable only to mothers and not to fathers.

13. Why don't you learn from Kanaa, 36 Vayadhinile, or Irudhi Sutru? They're also women empowerment movies?

Is it possible for all male directors to create movies like Edhir Neechal or Sarvam Thala Mayam? When most mainstream movies are about men partying, enjoying and living their life as they're, why restrict women from doing the same? Women need to live a life. Not everyone wants to drink. The same way not everyone wants to become a collector, a cricket player, a revolutionary or an achiever. They just wanna live their life.

14. Movie encourages women to drink and acquire other bad habits

Let me think. When was the last time such a criticism was placed when a man drinks or smokes? In nineteen forty? Or eighteen twenty maybe? OMG!!! Never. Drinking is bloody injurious to health. No matter who do it.

15. Women speaking about their private parts

Remember the best comedies in Tamil cinemas, especially the ones in which Santhanam is involved?

Technically, men speaking about women's private parts should be considered more vulgar than women speaking about them.

Now, let me be a socially acceptable good person. The movie is utter nonsense. The portrayal of Oviya as a smiling beauty is just like every other dumb heroin in Indian cinema. She is always high and smiles (and carries an over enthusiastic and super excited body language) for no reason.

Everyone has their own problem cliche as in all other movies. They tried to address untold problems of women's married life, but they were super exaggerated, just to justify their drinking habits.

There's this point, which needs to be addressed all the times. Even in this movie, women need men's protection to live the life as the wish. There should definitely be a compromise. They can't have it all, and then ask men to be their protectors. Men have other work to do than protecting women.

It is so socially irresponsible. Leave that. The negatives about the movie are way too high, but they're not worse than any other commercial movie. If anybody can enjoy a cheap commercial movie, they could really enjoy this too.