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Film CommentaryFrom going after the loosu ponnu to taking on Gautham Menon's obsession with killing women, 'Tamizh Padam 2' exposes the misogyny in Tamil films. Spoilers ahead.Sowmya Rajendran*Spoilers ahead Cs Amudhan's Tamizh Padam 2, much like the first film, takes a dig at Kollywood trends and spares no mainstream film. This time around though, the director has also addressed how female characters are represented in Tamil cinema, especially the heroine, who has been reduced to a "loosu ponnu." Agila Ulaga Superstar Shiva's first wife, Priya (Disha Pandey), is killed off unceremoniously because this is a sequel and obviously, a sequel can never have the same heroine. Besides, Tamizh Padam 2 is a cop film and as guruji Gautham Menon has taught us over and over again, a police officer's sincerity to the job is inversely proportional to his wife's longevity. So, Priya dies and is replaced by Ramya (Iswarya Menon). How? Shiva's friend advises him to simply close his eyes and fall in love with the first woman he sees. Shiva has only two conditions – a. The girl must be the colour of maida b. She must be a 'loosu ponnu'. This may seem satirical to people who are not familiar with mainstream Tamil films, but it's actually an accurate description of the heroine in most of them. Amudhan goes one step ahead and breaks down the conditions that establish a "loosu ponnu" – she must chase a puppy, she must help blind people cross the road, and she must eat ice-cream in the rain. While film critics have been lamenting this annoying trope for eons now, it's refreshing to see someone from the industry spelling it out in neon. Ramya also wears a T-shirt that says "Mental manadhil" and gets into a bus for patients with mental health issues (one supposes that mental healthcare professionals won't be delighted by this) to seal the deal for Shiva. He's in love! Among the films that Amudhan takes a dig at is the horrendous Remo which romanticised stalking on a whole other level. When his friends advise him to torture the heroine into falling in love with him, Shiva asks if that would not be wrong. They, however, tell him that he's the hero and that he can go to any extent to make the woman fall for him. Santhana Bharathi, who appears as one of Shiva's friends, also dresses up as a female nurse – to make sure we don't miss the reference. Ramya is hilariously oblivious to the fact that the heavily bearded person in the nurse uniform is not a woman – well, she's a loosu ponnu after all. 'Adida avala' from Mayakkam Enna and 'Evandi unna petha' from Vaanam (by Dhanush and Simbu respectively, the kings of the soup song genre) get a rehaul with Ramya singing the woman's version of it when she's dumped by Shiva for a stupid reason. Although the song is meant to be funny, it has some poignant lines that hit home, especially given the spate of stalker related murders in Tamil Nadu. "Love failurenu solli acid adikkara neenga/ engakita enda kolaveri pathi maanamkettu pesureenga" (Those of you who say love failure and throw acid, why do you speak to us about murderous rage without any shame?) are lyrics that Kollywood will do well to remember next time directors are tempted to make the same-old "suffering" hero nonsense. There's plenty of good-natured humour about a plethora of films – Vivegam, Vikram-Vedha, Thupparivalan, Thuppaki, Pisasu, Kaththi, VIP, 24, 7aam Arrivu, Thevar Magan, 2.0, Kabali, Ms Dhoni, Baahubali, Irudhi Suttru, Villain, Veeram, Saamy – the list is super long. However, what's appreciable is how Amudhan has also gone after the misogyny present in the films of directors who are considered to be "classy", particularly Gautham Menon. Although Gautham Menon is usually credited with giving "sensible" women characters who are not the "loosu ponnu", they tend to die brutal deaths, especially in his cop films. The misogyny is not as glaring as it is in the average mainstream film, but it's all the more disturbing. In Tamizh Padam 2, Shiva stalks Ramya (his tenant - Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya) to the Us (Vaaranam Aayiram) and the heroine eventually dies. But then, she hilariously comes back as Gayathri (the proposal scene is straight out of Vettaiyadu Vilaiyaadu). The self-obsessed hero voice-overs that are present in every Gautham Menon cop film – Khaaka Khaaka, Yennai Arindhal, Achcham Yenbadhu Madamayada – are also unmistakable. By the end of the movie, Shiva, the sincere cop, has a wall full of pictures of dead wives – so much so that his long-suffering paati decides to kill him and put an end to it. And oh, Kasthuri does an "item" number in the middle of an investigation because that's how the "classy" directors show off their "massy" side to the audience. Tamizh Padam 2 is not without its issues. It is essentially a string of scenes from popular films and if you don't get the references, chances are that it will not make any sense to you. But Amudhan has dared to show Kollywood an aspect that is seldom discussed by people from within the industry seriously – why can't we have better female characters? Why can't our love stories treat women with more respect? And when will our heroines grow up and behave like adults?...

InterviewAmudhan tells Tnm why he went from engineering to direction, how he chose which films to parody in the sequel, and more. Sowmya RajendranTwitter/Cs AmudhanCS Amudhan’s Tamizh Padam 2.0 is among the most anticipated Tamil films of the year. This is no mean achievement, considering there are two upcoming Rajinikanth films and at least one Kamal Haasan film this year, not to mention films by the younger superstars of the industry who go by various titles. Interestingly, the reason everyone is looking forward to Tamizh Padam 2.0 is precisely because it is a parody which will have references to films made by all the above mentioned titled superstars. The promos of the film, including the Evada Unna Petha song which takes a swipe at the infamous ‘soup song’ genre from a woman’s perspective, have promised us that much. The sequel to Tamizh Padam, which released in 2010, retains Shiva in the lead role and belongs to the cop film genre. It also stars Iswarya Menon with Disha Pandey making a cameo. Eight years is a long time for a sequel, but Amudhan’s film has still managed to generate a lot of buzz. Speaking to Tnm, the director says, “We did expect that there would be a buzz around it. In these 8 years, others have not attempted to make a spoof and we knew we were in the running and that the expectation would be good. But the reception we have got is overwhelming.” Amudhan, who did his Be in Electronics and Communication, knew at the end of his course that he didn’t want to do anything related to the degree he’d just earned after four years. So he started a creative hotshop in Chennai which went on to do well. “Then we went to Dubai and opened a hotshop there,” Amudhan recalls. “And then there was the recession and we were hit really badly by that. I was already friends with Sashikanth, who was an architect at the time. When I came back from Dubai, we both were at that stage when we wanted to do something else. We were saturated by the jobs we were in. So I pitched this idea to him – a telefilm spoof. He had a lot of contacts in the media industry at the time. But when we developed the script, we felt it was good enough for a feature length film.” Sashikanth put Amudhan in touch with Dayanidhi Azhagiri who’d just finished with the Suriya starrer Vaaranam Aaiyiram. “We pitched the idea to him and he liked it in the first meeting itself,” Amudhan recounts. “When he asked who the director would be, I impulsively said I’d do it… and nobody objected!” Amudhan did not have any experience in filmmaking though his agency had produced many ad films for which he’d written the script. “The aesthetics is very similar to what I’m doing now but I’d only written for them. I had absolutely no hands-on experience in directing,” says Amudhan. After the success of Tamizh Padam, Amudhan made another film – Rendavadhu Padam – but it has been stuck in the cans. He hopes to release it, riding on the popularity of Tamizh Padam 2.0. Beyond references to popular films, the promos for Tamizh Padam 2.0 have also taken a dig at how the Tamil film industry operates. For instance, the tendency to release ‘first looks’ and generate massive hype around every other announcement concerning the film. In honour of this tradition, Amudhan’s team released a ‘first look of the press release’ announcing that his film was delayed because of ‘CGI work’. The official first look of #tp2point0 press release!!! the real reason for the delay of this magnum opus @csamudhan @sash041075 @actorshiva P.s indha presss release il varum matter yaaraiyum kuripiduvana alla!! pic.twitter.com/0JmY89nqWH — venkat prabhu (@vp_offl) May 28, 2018 Asked if people from within the industry generally find such trends amusing themselves, Amudhan says, “I consider myself an outsider… not just consider, I Am an outsider. I’ve not assisted anybody before coming in. My family has nothing to do with films. My dad was a dean at Loyola College, my mom was a school headmistress – completely unrelated to the film industry.” He goes on to add, “Some in the industry do have a sense of humour. A lot of them don’t. But you can’t let them get to you if you’re making a spoof film. That’s the soul of it.” The recently released trailer of Tamizh Padam 2.0 has references to several Tamil films, including ones starring Vijay and Ajith. As anyone who has followed the Tamil film industry would know, Vijay and Ajith fans are notorious for trolling and abusing anyone who criticises their respective matinee idols. Surprisingly though, Amudhan says he’s not been at their receiving end as yet. “It hasn’t happened to me. I don’t know why. I find it strange myself. The thing is, when the first Tamizh Padam happened, there were enough references to Vijay and Ajith films there also. But we didn’t have anyone agitating in theatres or trolling it cruelly. That never happened. I think when the humour is about the things they have done in their films and not personal, people are a little kinder, if I can use that word! I know how vicious they can be… it’s a phenomenon I don’t understand myself,” he says. How did Amudhan go about selecting the films he’d parody in the sequel? He explains, “You go after the pop culture references that are at the top of everyone’s minds. So you build your story around that. This is what people don’t get. It’s not taking on anybody. I get asked why I was taking on Ajith and Vijay but I’m not taking them on. I’m just taking the ones who are at the top of everyone’s minds. You just show a scene, an image… you don’t have to say a word… and immediately people will connect.” Apart from parodying films, Tamizh Padam 2.0 also has references to the current political situation in Tamil Nadu. Deputy Cm O Panneerselvam appears to have been one of the inspirations. “There hasn’t been any backlash and I’m a little surprised by that myself. Out of the thousands of responses we’ve had, there might be one or two which ask how dare you do this,” he shares. However, Amudhan admits that he wouldn’t have been so bold in parodying politicians when Jayalalithaa, who was infamous for her intolerance, was still alive. Though everyone associates Amudhan’s name with humour, the director says his next film could be on clinical depression. “It will be an anthology film. I’ll be sure to make it clear in the marketing that there’s not a single joke in the film, so people don’t come expecting that. It will cater to the masses but it will be on clinical depression,” he says. Despite the success of his first film, Amudhan says he faced distrust from the leading actors when he approached them for his next. “The producers want you to do the same thing again. They don’t want you to do anything else. It’s very easy to be typecast. I learnt on the job. I had senior technicians helping me in the first film. Whatever mistakes I made were covered by them. Besides, there’s the advantage of making a spoof film… whatever logical errors you make are considered to be part of the spoof and would look funny,” he says. Speaking on the rapport he shares with his lead actor Shiva, Amudhan says, “I had nobody else in mind when I started writing the film. Chennai 28 released before this and all those scenes were still fresh in my memory. We called him over for a meeting and he immediately agreed.” There’s only one question left to ask Amudhan. Will the team have the famous ‘success meet’ of the film before its release or after? Laughing, he says, “That’s answered in the film actually. There’s an entire scene devoted to that!” Also read: Should appeal to all audiences: Balayya instructs writers of Ntr biopic...

KollywoodHow many of these Tamil film references can you spot?Tnm StaffTwitter / Y Not StudiosThe teaser of Tamizh Padam 2, sequel to the howlarious parody film that came out in 2010 directed by Cs Amudhan, was released on Friday. The 40-second teaser is a laughter-fest, giving us a good idea of the films that have been handpicked by the makers to be parodied. But the cherry on the cake is the uncanny recreation of the swearing in ceremony of Deputy Cm O Panneerselvam after Jayalalithaa’s demise. And it only gets better. The sequel, being a parody of the cop genre, checks several of the cop films that have released in Tamil in recent years and includes some other blockbusters as well. There are references to Vishal’s Thupparivalan, Vijay’s Thuppaki and Mersal, Ajith’s Mankatha and Vivegam, and Vijay Sethupathi’s Vikram Vedha. The conspicuous absence of the Singam franchise makes one hope it has a special place in the main film, or perhaps the trailer. The filmmakers have also made the best use of all that has been happening in the state these past years. In December last year, they released a poster featuring actor Shiva, the star of the comedy franchise, pulling an O Panneerselvam. Dressed in a crisp white shirt and veshti. Shiva sits meditating in front of a memorial, while a host of photographers click pictures of him in the background. A few days before that, they released a poster taking a dig at Tamil Rockers, the notorious piracy website. Last week, the makers released yet another poster, this time a “first look of the press release regarding delay in the release of Tamizh Padam 2.O” taking a dig at Shankar's 2.O (among other films) which has been postponed several times. Director Venkat Prabhu tweeted the 'reason' behind the delay in Tamizh Padam 2.O's release. The 'press release' said that the delay was because the film requires extensive CGI work in order to make the lead actors look good. The film stars Shiva, Disha Pandey, and Iswarya Menon, and will hit the screens this July. Watch: Also Read: Nagarjuna to act in Dhanush directorial in Tamil?...

KollywoodEarlier in the day, director Cs Amudhan had tweeted that the 'first look of the press release' about the film's delay would be out soon.Tnm StaffTamizh Padam 2, the sequel to the first film which released in 2010, is already making people laugh with the hilarious promos done by the team. Directed by Cs Amudhan, the first film was a satirical take on popular trends and tropes in Tamil cinema. Keeping in line with the theme, the latest promo for the sequel appears to be taking a dig at Shankar's 2.O (among other films) which has been postponed several times. Director Venkat Prabhu tweeted the 'reason' behind the delay in Tamizh Padam 2's release. The 'press release' says that because the film requires extensive CGI work in order to make the lead actors look good. While the CGI work for the hero's 'biceps and shoulder' has been outsourced to a studio in La, California, the work for the heroine's 'wrinkle-removal and under eye' has gone to a studio in Amsterdam, says the release. And yes, the overused term 'magnum opus' has not escaped the team! The official first look of #tp2point0 press release!!! the real reason for the delay of this magnum opus @csamudhan @sash041075 @actorshiva P.s indha presss release il varum matter yaaraiyum kuripiduvana alla!! pic.twitter.com/0JmY89nqWH — venkat prabhu (@vp_offl) May 28, 2018 Earlier in the day, Amudhan had announced that Venkat Prabhu would release the 'first look of the press release' which would reveal the delay in his film's release. Clearly, a jibe at Kollywood's penchant for releasing 'first look' promos incessantly. I am extremely honoured to announce that @vp_offl will release the First Look of The Press Release Regarding Delay of Tamizh Padam 2.0 Release at 5pm today. @sash041075 @actorsathish @actorshiva @ishmenon @editorsuresh @gopiamar @kayoas13 — C.S.Amudhan (@csamudhan) May 28, 2018 Starring Shiva, Disha Pandey, and Iswarya Menon, the film is expected to release this year. Also read: Watch: Trailer for 'Antony', supposedly 'India's first claustrophobic thriller' out...

The poster for the sequel of filmmaker Cs Amudhan's Tamizh Padam was released by actor Siddharth.

The first film, which came out in 2010, was a parody on Tamil cinema which starred Shiva and Disha Pandey in lead roles. The film took potshots at several blockbusters from the Tamil film industry and was a success at the box-office.

Chennai, April 15: Southern actress Disha Pandey has dropped her surname, saying she wants to be known as an Indian and not by her caste.

"I want to be known as an Indian before I'm recognised by my caste. In my effort to follow secularism, I will be known as Disha instead of Disha Pandey hereafter," Disha told Ians.

Disha is known for southern films such as "Tamizh Padam", "Race" and "Keeripulla". She has also worked in Hindi films such as "Bolo Raam" and "Saare Jahaan Se Mehnga".

Currently, she is busy working on an untitled Telugu project.

Ians...

Chennai, April 7: She is not taking any classes to learn Telugu, yet southern actress Disha Pandey has improved her knowledge of the language and gives credit to Telugu songs.

"I find listening to songs and learning the language more fun than taking classes. I don't say I have mastered the language yet, but I'm making progress and I'm happy about it. I think this way it's easier to learn because you can break the lyrics into words and learn the meaning," Disha told Ians.

"I take help of people on the sets to understand the meaning of words in a song. I have also started to converse in Telugu on the sets," she added.

Disha, who ventured into southern cinema with Tamil comedy "Tamizh Padam", went on to act in Tamil.

Chennai, March 7: Southern actress Disha Pandey feels an actor should worry about his or her performance, but not about the numbers a film makes at the box-office.

"Instead of worrying about the fate of the film at the box-office, an actor should worry about his or her performance. A film will do well if the audiences are happy with the content and the performances of the actors involved in it," Disha told Ians.

"I personally don't worry about box-office numbers because I'm more interested to know if the audience liked my performance. I feel successful as an actor if my performance gets appreciated by one and all. An actor.