One woman show

Oruththi is a film by Amshan Kumar and is set in the feudal times of the19th century. Based on a novel, Oruththi tells the tale of a young woman from a lower caste who is unusually strong and independent for her time. The protagonist shepherds goats all day long. While doing so she falls for the village elder’s son, who too happens to do nothing more than looking after the goats. Even though this affair is not unknown to the villagers, the surprisingly open-minded citizens of the village react to it passively; despite their discomfort with the relationship.
What starts as a whisper gains force after a few goats run riot in a poor woman’s field. The village panchayat decides to take the help of a self-made detective to investigate the matter. He, while on his errand, finds out about the two love-struck young people. To avoid embarrassment, the village elder prepares to get his son married to someone in his own caste. Though shattered, the young woman stays true to her job and hopes to get married the village elder’s son, one day. As the story takes a turn, she gets an opportunity to impress the villagers.
The zamindar of that village is a reckless and dishonest man. He draws taxes from the farmers, on behalf of the English rulers, and keeps the money to himself. A young English officer, posted in that village seeks to know the reason as to why the taxes haven’t reached the government. The zamindar’s ploy of putting the blame on the villagers backfires as the young woman divulges the truth to the officer.
The officer, a good-natured man, makes sure that the zamindar is punished and the villagers are allowed to pay their taxes directly to the government. This makes the woman an instant heroine among her people.
However, for the elders, it becomes a complex situation as on one hand they are indebted to the woman, while on the other, the "prestige" of their caste is on line. To please everyone, they reach a compromise. The woman, for what she has done for the village, can marry her lover. But she has to leave the village. She declines.
Oruththi is by no means a great film. It is in fact, at times, unintentionally funny. However, what makes the film slightly different to other films based on the feudal period is the almost modern outlook of the villagers. Barring the zamindar and his cohorts there are no straightforward villains here. The village elders are scholarly at most times and the British too seem sympathetic. When the village discovers the inter-caste love affair, there is no attempt to lynch the pair. Any intention to subdue the affair is preceded with caution, so as not to harm anyone, at least physically. When goats destroy a poor woman’s field, the elders and the village in general rally around her to help her out of trouble. There is no effort to curb the naturally strong character of the protagonist; if anything, she is patronized for having that quality.
Somehow, the film reminds you of Lars von Trier’s Dogville. Both these films deal with the issue of power and its effect on people. While both films have women as central characters, the village they are in also plays an important role. If in Dogville, the village turns ugly on the woman; in Oruththi it is always friendly to her, except on one count: her marriage. Both women help their respective villages in different ways, and both are let down in the end. While Dogville presents a stark picture of the powerful, Oruththi is perhaps an appropriate comment on the workings of power, today.
The village elders have the power to take decisions. When the zamindar is punished by the British, they become even more powerful. They understand that they owe something to the person who gifted them this position. But they can bend only so far as they want to and not as far as they should.
Oruththi, as mentioned earlier, has many a loose end. It is more important to Tamil filmdom than it is to Indian cinema. While the money in Tamil cinema seems to overflow, the quality is generally poor. Even the customary efforts at offbeat cinema one sees in Hindi are absent here. This film, if made in Bengali or Malayalam, may not have meant much. But in Tamil, it takes some significance. Oruththi is a decent effort.