PIFF Film Review

Ananya Arora
ARTS202
Prof. Kunal Ray
31st January 2023
PA Ranjith’s Star: A Play On Love, Sexuality and Caste in Contemporary India
A ragtag theater group attempts to perform a play about love in PA Ranjith's 2022 film
Natchathiram Nagargiradhu (Translate. A Star Is Moving). As caste and sexual orientation
prejudices start to collide, the drama soars to new heights. The film since its release has received
critical praise along with audience’s love. It is a bold story of representation and righteous anger
towards the ongoing and unfortunate practice of honor killings in the state of Tamil Nadu. The
film is set in Pondicherry and stars Kalidas Jayaram, Dushara Vijayan, and Kalaiyarasan in the
lead.
Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss graces my screen as soon as I hit play. The film starts out with a
drawn out scene in a room with Rene (Dushara) and Iniyan (Kalidas). The entire scene feels
intrusive, almost as if I am in the room with them mostly because of the deliberate medium close
up camera shots and the confines of the room itself. The colors are warm and set the tone of the
scene. We are introduced to our characters here and I get some sense of what they are going to be
like for the duration of the film. Rene, an open, talkative woman who loves Ilaiyaaraja and
Iniyan, your average angry young man. Without any delay, Ranjith does what he’s best known
for in his films- articulating caste. With all the back and forth banter between our leads, the build
up is finally revealed with simple flowing camera movements and edits.
One could argue that Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is a film that only preaches. The
dialogues at some points could seem excessive and unnecessary. Why do I have to make love
political? Why should I care about the various types of love? Ranjith answers the first question
by creating itself as the central theme of his film, and of his theater group’s play. The character's
ideals are set in stone in the film. The question of is love political is not even up for debate.
Ranjith introduces us with characters that make us want to know how love is political. We are
met with a gay man, a transwoman, a dalit, an upper caste man, etc. All of these people are
separated by social constructs, but united on the stage. This can be seen through the very next
scene in the film where every member of the theater crew is cleaning their practice place. This
answers the second question for me. Such is the admiring inclusivity of Ranjith- he delivers on
both the storyline and visual front.
The sensitive yet horrifying issue of honor killing has been tackled with full force. The
bold choice of easily flowing the theme of honor killing has been weaved into a theater play.
Everyone delivers an exceptional performance, staying faithful to each character. The heated
conversations about everyone’s perception is a significant point in the film where everyone’s
true colors are seen. Is love viewed differently between a trans woman and her partner? Does age
matter in love? Is inter-caste love real or fake? Such themes are handled with full maturity and
righteous anger. The film has tried to bring forward everything, and in trying to cover and touch
on multiple social issues, by the end the film does seem a little all over the aim. Nonetheless, it
never loses focus by centering all conversations around the casteist politics of love.
In terms of the cinematography, the film is great. The seamless cuts to Rene and Iniyan’s
past relationship, the choreography of the movement routines, the songs and music composition,
lighting, makeup, costume, etc all contribute to the film’s good visual grammar. Even the songs
used, and the costumes of black and white are proof of attention to detail because every aspect
conveys something about caste disparities and power imbalance. The theater group, no matter
the internal biases, has come together to give something important to the world through their art.
Ranjith’s smart choice to call the castes in his film as wild and domestic cat is commendable,
since he is boiling down humans to animals almost comically, and forcing his audience to
acknowledge how caste should be abolished. The only character change in the film is of Arjun’s
(Kalaiyarasan) character, another plausible arc since Ranjith convinces his audience that people
can and do change by surrounding themselves with the right people. Arjun changes for the better
by learning and living with the theater group, and when no one believes in him Rene does, and
allows him a space to grow.
Natchathiram Nagargiradhu in my eyes is an essential watch. In the end, It is Rene’s story
to claim, wherein she finally defines herself in an emotional flashback scene to Arjun. PA
Ranjith’s call for action disguised as cinema sends me in a galaxy far, far away. Am I only a
particle? Does someone love me in this galaxy? Will our love cause problems? Is this theater
stage war ground for us? Do lovers have to fight to be together? Why is someone in the audience
objecting? Do we have to prove our love? Can we fight the power? Can we kill the cat that
caused disruption and distinction? Will the audience then accept us? Is there no space for
political art? Why are marginalized voices silenced? To answer these questions, Ranjith paints a
picture that is A Moving Star or Natchathiram Nagargiradhu.

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Ananya Arora

Prof. Kunal Ray

31st January 2023

PA Ranjith’s Star: A Play On Love, Sexuality and Caste in Contemporary India

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