The Nirbhaya incident in 2012 shook the conscience of the entire nation. It’s been almost 7 years, but the brutal rape and assault of the young woman still sends shivers down one’s spine. Two weeks after the heinous incident, the braveheart breathed her last. What if she had survived? What if she had to wake up every day and face society and the rude comments, the sympathy, victimisation and more? Ranganayaki: Volume 1 – Virginity explores this angle.
Ranganayaki (Aditi Prabhudeva) is a practical, independent, content woman working as a music teacher. She has a good job, good friends and a man who loves her unconditionally (Trivikram). She also has a ‘secret admirer’ in Krishnamurthy (MG Srinivasa). When Ranganayaki and Trivikram get engaged, Krishnamurthy is heartbroken. After the engagement, Ranganayaki attends a house party with four male friends, who lace her drink with drugs and rape her. The four drunk men also make a video of the entire incident. The rest of the story is about how Ranganayaki fights the predators to get justice.
With Ranganayaki, director Dayal Padmanabhan has tried to shed light on the life of a sexual assault survivor. From the moment the incident becomes known, she is labelled a victim. While they may win the battle in court, many women take years to recover from the trauma and depression. But why should women suffer for no fault of theirs? Dayal sends out this strong message through the movie. Throughout the movie, instead of victimising Ranganayaki, the director has shown her as a woman who stands up for herself and fights society.
Ranganayaki explores how women are constantly judged in our patriarchal society and how virginity is considered testimony of a girl’s character. The film shows men and women are equal and must co-exist in society. While it was four men who raped her, there are also men who stand by her as she decides to fight legally. There are women who try to put her down, who tell her to withdraw the case to save her face, giving her examples from Hindu epics. But Ranganayaki stands unperturbed. The first half takes off slowly but the film picks up pace by the intermission.
Aditi Prabhudeva is good, but her performance could have been better. In a few important scenes, she looks emotionless. A talented and award-winning actor could have infused more energy into the character. MG Srinivasa gets to play a character with two shades and has done justice to the role. The role of Krishnamurthy is a welcome change from his usual lover boy image. Suchendra Prasad as the judge stands out. The court scene where he explains about inequality and talks about how all of us in this world are born from a woman gives the audience goosebumps.
Dialogues are the heart and soul of this movie. Naveen Krishna gets 10 on 10 for coming up with apt dialogues that avoid sexism.
Though the film may sound a bit preachy for commercial movie lovers, it is heartening to see that it is supportive of rape survivors, and overall does a good job of portraying sensitive issues onscreen.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.