Vinothraj’s screenplay and direction radiate assurance in this powerfully feminist film. He daringly takes on multiple villains—incest, child marriage, the caste system, and religious superstition serving regressive social traditions. Indeed, the older women, having internalised patriarchy, scold Soori for having “allowed” Meena to study; now she has ideas of independence. The writer employs a fairly obvious metaphor for Meena, of an accompanying rooster, whose feet are always tied, and whose fate is to be ritually sacrificed. Soori is in fine form as a man who feels the girl he was promised in marriage has wronged him. He seethes with coiled rage and has an explosive presence. There is a scene in which terrible violence is inflicted upon Meena and the women relatives, that is hard to watch. Anna Ben, who has barely a line in the entire film, has a powerful presence as Meena: throughout the film, she responds to the relentless humiliation and violence with a steely gaze that is both stoic and defiant; she weaponises silence. They can torture her body, but they cannot tame her spirit: she remains resolutely “unattainable”. We never see her lover; only a ring. There’s hardly any music in the film either; Vinothraj himself uses silence effectively.

B Sakthivel’s cinematography is strong, and the film opens with an impressive, six-minute long, one-take shot, in which a middle-aged woman bathes at daybreak, visits a temple nearby, prays and returns home to her stoic daughter Meena. Even in a 100-minute film, editor Ganesh Siva allows for longueurs, with endless trundling along village roads; the crux of the story arrives about an hour into the film. But a sharp cut at the climax, involving a revelation to Pandi, following an exorcising ritual, is damning and forceful as a tight slap.

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Suren G and S Alagia Koothan’s sound design is effective. The women crew includes Executive Producer Banu Priya. Congratulations to the team, including producer—and actor—Sivakarthikeyan, and co-producer Kalai Arasu P, for backing this film, a powerful indictment of Indian society, that holds up a mirror to it as well.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. 
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com