On Sept. 11, Karthik Subbarajโs Dorothy premiered globally at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Produced by Oscar winner Guneet Monga Kapoorโs Sikhya Entertainment alongside Jio Studios, the film stars Sananth, Rishikanth and Keerthy Suresh, with music composed by the legendary Ilaiyaraaja.
Iโve held back my spoiler-heavy thoughts on Dorothy since its TIFF premiere at the directorโs request during the filmโs opening credits. Now that itโs officially streaming, let’s talk about it.
The film follows the story of two childhood friends, Karthik and Subbu (played by Rishikanth and Sananth), and how their friendship and ideologies grow amid Subbuโs family, which is shaped by โ๏ฟผโcaste (a 2500 year old system of occupation based social hierarchy), violence and toxic masculinity. Their conversations from the get-go make the audience think about how children are easily socialized into believing toxic ideologies.
Having grown up in such an environment, the friendsโ lives begin to change with the arrival of Subbuโs sister-in-law, Dorothy (played by Keerthy Suresh). While everyone thinks this film is going to be a generic relationship triangle among these characters, the director shocks the audience by killing off Dorothy.
This loss breaks Subbu, and they come out to their toxic family as transgender in an epic transformation scene and leave the house. The family, feeling their reputation is tarnished by this, convinces and sends Karthik to kill Subbu. Karthik, shaken by this, also agrees and finds Subbu. The two friends then set out on a journey through rural India where Karthik waits for a perfect opportunity to kill them. What happens after that is the rest of the story.
While the film has some stellar supporting characters and beautiful scenes touching on many of the aforementioned social topics, I specifically want to talk about how director Subbaraj depicts trans identities in this film.
Set in the 90s, Subbaraj shows an environment untouched by Western terminology and conversations about queer identities. However, rather than making it seem like these identities were invisible, he chooses to root them in many cultural practices that trans women in southern India have had for centuries, often hidden in popular historical narratives.
He boldly presents the deity, โโSanthoshi Mata and beautifully depicts the โโNirvanam ritual, a rite of passage that trans women go through after gender reassignment. In doing so, director Subbaraj breaks the notion of “Western influence” often used to culture wash queer identities. The serene sequence in the climax where Subbu goes through these rituals, paired with the amazing song โMuthumani,โ composed and sung by Ilaiyaraaja where he beautifully extols her, honoured these traditions.ย ย
The dichotomy in the audience’s reaction to the film can be an article in itself. But Subbarajโs writing and the cultural agency he provides within the film deeply resonated with many audiences. Through the platform given by the film, many queer people, like Jeeva Subramanian, who plays an important role in the film, also talked about their personal experiences.
While I believe there is a long way to go with the social acceptance of queer people, especially in regions depicted in the movie, the film got people to think. I think that in itself is a great win for Dorothy.
Contributed photo by Santosh Chandrasekar
