Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

28 Comments

  1. Amazing. Moved me to tears. Let’s hope the film maker has the emotional capacity to learn from this letter.

  2. I’m a feminist. Being a big supporter of LGBT community and a female myself, I feel disgusted after watching the movie. Shankar has such a small mind. No wonder why girls are sexually harassed and transgender people are harassed and discriminated as well in our society, for we have such wonderful directors like Shankar. So disgusted at the discrimination and the awful portrayal of transgender and women in the movie. “I” means sexism still exists.

  3. As a mother as a woman my heart goes with you Smiley…this must stop. Take the initiatives Ardhanaries( shiva and parvathi swaroopas) and hope people are sensible atleast from now on…

  4. One of the greatest director of today Rituparno Sarkar was transgender. And rarely we find one with y chromosome so sensitive to women pain and dignity. But he was hurt and ridiculed personally by ppl like anchor Mir in public arena. He was so depressed he gave up his fight with cancer and we lost him. Why world behave like this is beyond me. In movie they treat violent psycopaths with sympathy as victim but hv no heart for transgender. Its actually sad.

  5. Beautifully written. I’m amazed at just how insensitive the film was. I reviewed the film for Sify: http://www.sify.com/movies/i-review-shankar-s-latest-is-more-like-aiyo-review-tamil-15058871.html#. Though the comment guidelines ask that we don’t paste links, I just wanted to let you know that not all critics ignored this terrible portrayal. It’s amazing how many people think it is all right to make films like this because it shows ‘reality’. As if the rest of the film is very real and it’s the director’s commitment to reality that has made him do this. More power to you.

  6. Well written article. When I watched the film I cringed and felt ashamed when Ojas was on screen. Everything about her portrayal was so crass and narrow minded. These films are watched by children. What sort of message are we passing on to them. That it’s ok to call people names and be cruel. Its definitely not ok and is high time that film makers realise the amount of influence they wield in indian society. Their mindless cinema does affect the behaviour of our youth who by far are mindless also.

  7. Fantastic review of the disgusting aspects expressed in the insensitive movie!
    As a liberal, I am not asking for ban or cuts in the movie. But many of us should express our angst through writing such reviews and share it online and to a larger audience, so next time, when a director even thinks of having such scenes, he should be sensitive!

  8. Transgenders can be portrayed as a villain , negative character or with wrong shades in a movie.. after al its just a movie. But the respect that has to be given to them. Has to be given. Should not used those terms which indicates trangenders in future.

  9. My thoughts exactly when I was seeing the film…Regretted seeing this farce a short time into it…Couldn’t describe the amount of ‘disgust’ I felt on watching the film…how anyone could say they like this film is beyond me…Cheap narrow-minded ass of a director and the people who appreciate this so called film..Unbelievable..Great job on the review though!

  10. I dont understand why this is called degrading..One thing which was degrading was to see the Vikram nd santhanam acting disgusted over Ojas..But thats the common stereotype,but then when it was explained,it was setteled…But the fact that Ojas fell in love with Vikram is natural..What if that charecter was potrayed by a female and not transgender,would you say the charecter was degraded because it potrayed betrayal and jelousy, 2 common emotions…Why do you hav to look down upon urselves..

    1. Kavishna,

      Common emotions they are, as u have rightly pointed out. But is that what the movie implies? Sadly, not. The love of a trans woman is seen as nothing but disgusting, by the actor. I agree, that is the common reaction in our society, but can a narrow-minded mentality be justified simply because it is widely prevalent?

  11. Totally apt! “I” was very denigrating towards transgender individuals.Its about time we started boycotting such movies!!

  12. Dear Sister,

    I can only apologise on behalf on the society I live in. There are a few of us who were also angry. To be fair to such creators, in the past they have also shown women in poor light. I used to be angry to, till i realized that we have to raise above them, and just prove our greatness. They will not see it. Please understand they are blind. Leave them with their insensitivities.
    Just wanted to tell you that there are people like us who care and who love you for all that you are……god bless.

  13. What a powerful letter! I have to say i agree with every single point. Even I was appalled at such an offensive portrayal of transwomen in the movie, I was even more ashamed when some of my own acquaintances laughed for the supposed jokes. Shankar was one of my favorite directors, until he decided to so unabashedly portray such offensive scenes. I also wonder how Vikram and AR Rahman and such big names did not raise any objection to this. After all there was no story value attached to such a track. Whether we agree or not, such a magnum opus movie does influence people and these scenes may actually provide a mental justification to those men who shamelessly tease women and transwomen alike.

  14. Looks like Shankar has lost his credibility and dignity as a director, in the eyes of the commons. Gender insensitivities and other type insensitivities like targeting a particular section of the people, in the name of freedom of expression has become a norm than exception. We do live in a misogynistic society to some extent which has only extended itself to other sections like the LGBT community. Change has to be brought about by only such acclaimed directors, who surprisingly are regressive in their attitude. Hope Shankar is given a chance for retribution atleast in his next film!

  15. As appalled as I was watching a trans woman being projected in such a demeaning potrayal in ‘I’, I was also left with a deep disgust towards the sheer insensitivity of these director, writers and actors part of it. They have terribly failed themselves by not realising the social responsibility they hold owing to the impact their work has over the masses. I walked out of the show as an utterly hurt and disgusted guy.
    Smiley, ur article here is a heart wrenching one, resonating with the views of mine and thousands of others out here. We stand by u!

  16. It’s sad that a director of such repute would put on display such insensitivity. I am shocked infinitely. If Shankar claims to have made an epic film, he must also know, that epics which encapsulate the realities of a culture within which it is produced, have always acknowledged the citizenry of all, and have not been denigrating of citizens, unless they have transgressed some moral codes that hurt others. If he has not been able to understand the simple truth that honouring “differences” is the mark of a true artist, he better not make films anymore. In any case, popular culture in India has always been sexist, predominantly misogynist and homophobic; but, to perpetuate the same worldview in 2015, is something shameful. Shankar should apologise publicly; in fact, such insensitive people like Shankar should not be allowed entry in such powerful mediums as cinema, for they might be instrumental in making this world a more difficult place to survive for those, who are different and do not want to perform.

  17. Being a chennaite and living abroad for many years, I have persoanlly experienced and seen the steady deteriorioration of respect,culture between fellow human beings especially towards women in chennai,leave alone the minorities like transgenders…..giving way to hooliganism, suggestive gestures and vulgar language openly in the roads. Men openly gawk at women (esp foreign women) who feel they are being ‘disrobed’ while walking in roads. I am surprised no one protests anymore when they hear the vulgar dialogues depicting women in some tamil movies,immune???? .so this blatant degradation of transgenders by a so called ‘top director’ is no surprise to me. Where has all the culture gone in chennai??????

  18. This will go as insignificant as any great letter in my great country. It shall be looked at, admired and forgotten by millions while successively having no effect on the cine industry. I extend my sympathies to the author and re-assure that many share the same opinion but ultimately nobody will do anything about it. Now keyboard warriors hall rage over this page until it loses popularity. Excuse my manners but thing deep of what I have just stated.

  19. This cannot be tolerated anymore. Something has to be done. How could we stop this in legal way