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Chirai
aka Sirai 1984 143’ col Tamil d/sc/dial R.C. Sakthi pc Ananthi Films p Mohan st Anuradha Ramanan lyr Pulamai Pithan, Muthulingam, Piraichoodan c Vishwam Nataraj m M.S. Vishwanathan lp Rajesh, Prasanna, Pandian, Laxmi, Ilavarasi, S.S. Chandran, A. Shakuntala, S.N. Parvathi
The drunken landlord Anthony (Rajesh) rapes Bhagirathi (Lakshmi), wife of the village Brahmin priest. When her husband (Prasanna) rejects her, encouraged by a kindly policeman she moves in with her rapist and eventually develops an attachment to him. When he dies she prefers to be known as the man’s widow and refuses to rejoin her husband. A parallel story has a farm-worker (Pandian) courting a local politician’s daughter (Elavarasi), providing an opportunity to show the corrupt relationships between politicians and police. The story’s impact is diluted by gross comedy, cabarets, and a fight sequence inserted for boxoffice reasons. Laxmi gives an accomplished repeat performance of a rape victim (cf. Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, 1976). The film upset Brahmin organisations, which campaigned against it.