‘Uyare’ written
by Bobby-Sanjay and directed by Manu Asokan is a story of survival of a young
woman felled to her knees and literally scarred and bruised by her toxic
companion. Parvathy essaying the role of Pallavi achingly portrays the protagonist
often the burnt half of her face revealing more than a thousand words of pain,
suffering and sorrow.
But ‘Uyare’ is not a sympathetic story of an acid attack
victim, it is a story of euphoria at the end for her and for many women sharing
the pain of male chauvinistic violence. The movie artfully lays out the various
layers of patriarchy that is constructed around Pallavi caging her flight,
enforcing stereotypes and wreaking havoc in her life.
At the heart of this depiction is a gender insensitive
criminal justice system that continues to be a norm in our country. A scene
where the judge asks Pallavi of her view on the offer of Govind to share her
life with the very one who threw acid on her face is very revealing in this aspect.
A male dominated courtroom that cares scant about a bruised and violated
woman’s emotions is poignantly depicted. Pallavi’s heartfelt lament of her
perpetrator being out on bail for years while she remains scarred for life is
an echo of many a violated woman’s pains of a terribly slow judicial process.
It is in Vishal’s interactions with Pallavi that the movie subtly
throws light on the several gender stereotypes that play around us. In a scene
where Vishal mistakenly enters the washroom meant for women, Pallavi
hilariously lays out the male constructed stereotype that women gossip while men recite enlightened phrases. Similarly, when Pallavi (now an acid attack
victim) draws an awed reaction from Vishal when she asks for a job as an air
hostess, it brings out the requirements of beauty and attractiveness that are
stereotyped into the role of air hostess for women.
The most striking face of patriarchy in Uyare undoubtedly
belongs to Pallavi’s toxic controlling companion Govind. It unabashedly opens
the viewer’s eyes to the danger of toxic relationships where one sided victims remain reluctant to let go despite the humiliation, sorrow and misery it
brings to them.
Pallavi too mistakes Govind’s control on what she wears, who
she talks to, the length of her hair and her bed time as love as many women do
in our society. Govind is the epitome of men in relationships that see their
other half as their property- to be used, controlled and caged within their
ambit of decision making.
Yet, for Govind, he loves her like nobody can, a kind of
selfish and possessive love that leaves even the other half in the dark. Govind is further a representative of the deviant youth in our society that is a product of poor parenting which his own father later owns up to. This makes Govind, one of the greyest and most complex characters to
perform. Asif Ali has taken up this challenge and delivered a career best
performance that delves beautifully into the enigma of the person Govind is with
an extremely layered performance
With the toxic levels in their relationship rising, Pallavi
in the worst moment of their relationship finds voice and strength enough to
sever Govind from her life and bravely tells it to his face. This is a moment
of ‘enough is enough’ and is a scene amazingly performed by both actors.
The worst shades of patriarchy reveal when Govind throws
open a bottle of acid to Pallavi’s face the next morning. It depicts male
violence when a woman exercises her agency on her own life. As Pallavi falls
apart from her scooter her face burning, Govind walks away maybe pocketing a
satisfaction of revenge for rejection that only such deviant patriarchal minds would understand.
Pallavi opens up to a life with half a face burnt and
disfigured that shakes her and pains her to the hilt. She is so scarred and bruised
by her past toxic relationship with Govind that it is no surprise she turns
down Vishal’s proposal for a relationship opting for a friendship that is much
needed for her aching mind. It clearly depicts the difficulties women as
victims of male violence have in trusting their relationships with men in
future.
Vishal ushers into Pallavi’s life as an angel that in one way fulfils her greatest wish of being up in the sky. By
casting an acid attack victim in role of an air hostess, Vishal aims at
breaking a land mark gendered stereotype of how beauty is to be defined with
regard to women. The writers of the movie here throw up a revolutionary idea of redefining beauty given where we are at this time of modern civilization with Vishal being the tool of that communique. The fact that the only woman in his company’s boardroom
vociferously opposes his decision enlightens us that patriarchy ironically has no gender
as we have so often come across in life.
It is in this context that Uyare becomes a tale of two
flights from rock bottom, not just for Pallavi but also for Vishal. Forever
under the shadow of his father, ridiculed and dominated without exercising his
own agency, Vishal flies free and strong with his strong decision making in two
instances- taking Pallavi in as an air hostess and trusting her when no one
else did as the captain in the cockpit of a turbulent flight. In both
instances, he comes out with flying colours garnering greater self-respect and
confidence in himself through Pallavi. In hindsight, Vishal needed Pallavi as
much as she needed him for inspiration and for goodness that prompts action with conviction transcending self-doubt.
It is Pallavi’s flight from emptiness and horror that is the
central theme of the movie, of how she reconciles with reality and her forever
disfigured face and how she refuses to cave herself inside the four walls of
her home despite it being the natural tendency for an acid attack victim. At
one point, Pallavi is so at peace with herself that she delightedly takes a
selfie caring scant about her burnt face.
Pallavi’s journey from a hospital bed to the cockpit of a
turbulent flight epitomises the fighting spirit that victims of such disaster
arm themselves with at most times by virtue of the situation. She has just
about enough to keep living, breathing and moving, one step at a time
painstakingly, handheld by her father and close friend who becomes her trusted
caring companions. From the doldrums of her eager flying wings clipped of by
the acid burns and of babies crying on seeing her face, she rises up each time
more determined and resolute than before.
It is indeed ironic that Pallavi’s flight upward reaches its
peak and crescendo when she lands a plane caught in turbulent winds against all
odds. Pallavi’s conviction in her abilities and subsequent success sores her
self-respect to never before seen heights. We see her content and gratified for
having flown at least once fulfilling her deepest desire as a child and young
woman so much so that she is least perturbed when her father calls up to remind her it is verdict day in her case.
Pallavi’s father is the engine that drives her upward, a
remarkable anti-thesis of the controlling fathers that we see so often in our
daily society. She gives her the freedom to fly and to love and trusts her in
her agency, never for once cursing her decisions. Even in the worst hour, he is
able to control emotion by reason and apply his mind to the hard questions of
life that stare before them. But, like any other father, he too loses the plot when Govind once again
rakes hell in Pallavi’s life. A special mention cannot be forgone for Siddique
who essays this character, once again reminding us what a terrific actor he
really is with a nuanced and subtle performance.
Uyare is a crisp tale of survival that unabashedly opens the
viewer’s eyes into the life of an acid attack survivor who has no choice but to
wear her bruise on her face forever. As much as it is a tale of toxicity, it is
also a tale of goodness, optimism and hope that eventually prevail thanks to
the many angel like figures that circle around us.
Parvathy brings Pallavi to life like only she can and
underlines herself as one of the best performers in Malayalam cinema in the top
most bracket of actors perhaps with only Fahadh Fassil and Soubin Shahir for
company. In many ways, there is a symbolism in her depicting Pallavi, survivors
in different realms albeit from the common devil of patriarchy that aims to
choke women of their livelihoods and freedoms. Here’s wishing conversations on
gender jump started by movies such as this stir the nest of patriarchy enabling
women to fly out of it sooner rather than later.
