It appears the adult entertainer 90 ML has been running into some kind of wall built of male chauvinism. Why else would a bold movie projecting the freedom of a few women to converse on ‘hot’ topics and star in adult scenes like stripping and mixing drinks be considered worthy of moral policing?
Critics used their pens to slam the movie for its weak plot. While noting a brave new approach to a film on women’s free spirit, the use of provocative language and double entendre was criticised heavily. But the director Anita Udeep (aksAlagiya Asura) accepted it all with grace saying she made an adult movie of a chick flick in Tamil.
It was when well-known producer Dhanjayan, known to be vocal on film issues, trolled the film saying it “could be detrimental to our society” that Anita took off to reply on Twitter about “Uncle” Dhanjayan’s double standards as he produced films like Settai against which Anita used epithets to get her own back.
Accused of “spreading venom among our youngsters to make money,” Anita literally pounced on her chief critic, accusing him of having made “s!@t” movies and getting worked up because she was talking about the “s!@t” women go through in life. A fair enough point in this war against sexism, although twitterati took unkindly to Anita’s forecfeul arguments on what she says is a pure and simple adult entertainment.
The film goes on “to talk about feminism, women empowerment and how ladies should liberate themselves from suppressive views on love, marriage and sex,” as our reviewer put it. But Dhananjayan went on to slam the film for “vulgar dialogues and degrading scenes,” and the argument raged on in Twitter.
All the women who share living space with the heroine Oviya in 96 ML are bunched in a WhatsApp group entitled “Hot chicks” while Oviya becomes an “agony aunt” to whom her pals pour their woes to. The film may not have become a commercial success judging by the first few days of its release, but it does seem to have stirred a hornet’s nest in the fight among the genders.
Anita concluded that it was her mistake to talk to people (on Twitter) who are chauvinists and have prejudices against women. There are others who encouraged the filmmaker asking her to go for the jugular in the gender fight. Anita’s plea that she not be personally attacked while her film is trashed by critics makes a fair point in the issue. “Go for it gals,” was more the reaction in young people who took in the movie that had become controversial from the moment its trailer was released.
