A scene from ‘Ahimsa’
It doesn’t matter how much Susan Sontag, Simone de Beauvoir, Andrea Dvorkin or Virginia Woolf you read, you can always count on Tollywood to rediscover misogyny previously unknown to man.
Raghu (Abhiram Daggubati) is a farmer in a remote village and a follower of Siddhant nonviolence (non-violence) taught by Mahatma Gandhi, even when his girlfriend Ahilya (Geetika Tiwari) – who also happens to be his first cousin – seeks help after being molested, she gives the criminal a moral lesson about women Importance of respect He is the gullible happy-go-lucky boy next door who can do wrong; A strict vegetarian, he refuses to kiss his own girlfriend, and preaches when she tries to eat some delicious mutton curry. He turns loving her into a chore, but like the good textbook girlfriend, Ahilya sticks around even though she gets the short end of the stick from both Raghu and the filmmaker.
Ahimsa (Telugu)
Director: Teja
mould: Abhiram Daggubati, Geetika Tiwari, Sadha, Bindu Chandramouli, Rajat Bedi
runtime: 160 minutes
Story: A young farmer is forced to face tough challenges on his way to get justice for his loved ones.
We are introduced to a close-up of Geetika’s navel before even knowing her character’s name and the sexiness only gets worse. By turning her into a sexual object to be attracted to by characters and audiences alike, the filmmakers treat her like a provocateur and absolve the characters and themselves of any and all malicious intent.
Raghu and Ahilya’s normal life is disrupted when the sons of an influential man rape Ahilya and leave her unconscious by the roadside. Raghu takes up the responsibility of bringing his rapists to justice, during which he encounters a girl boss-esque female lawyer who doesn’t back down from a verbal fight in court, a marijuana smuggling cartel deep in the jungles, witnesses who turn hostile become, and the institutions that rally behind the powerful.
Oh, there is also a re-enactment of the rape scene in the hospital ward right next to the unconscious victim, and Raghu tries to improve her condition by rubbing herbal medicine on her body which only makes it worse. When all else fails, he kisses her to bring her back to her senses.
As if women and audiences in their film haven’t already suffered enough, they add one last item song to make sure we don’t mistake them for feminists caring about their characters. It cannot be ignored that almost all the characters killed in this pursuit of justice are women.
Even after watching a two hour forty two minute long film which is two hours too long, I remain confused about the intentions of the filmmakers. At this point, I’d rather have a fleshy hero without morals – indulging in action scenes and physically hurting rapists – than watch another minute of a clingy guy who totally ends up hooking up with a bratty woman. And attracts his bravery by sacrificing. then its value.
Ahimsa is currently playing in theaters