Ayali is somewhat of a defiance of Tamil cinema. There is this scene in the eight-part web series released on Zee5 late January where the protagonist Thamizselvi (played by Abi Natchathira) – a young school student – snatches the thali forcibly tied around her neck and flings it across the face of the man who did it. For an industry that was for a major part built upon sentiments including around thali (varying from the titles of the films to enacting its power by way of saving the life of the man who had tied it), the nonchalance with which the scene played out could have been a rude awakening. And Ayali tries to do that often.
Set in a fictional village called Veerappanai in the 1990s, Ayali is about the struggle of Thamizhselvi to defy the 500-year-old tradition which requires young girls like her to get married soon as they hit puberty. This means that no girl in the village would be educated beyond class nine. Thamizhselvi, however, dreams of becoming a doctor. The villagers believe that any defiance of the tradition would invite the wrath of their goddess, Ayali, and lead to widespread destruction. Thamizhselvi takes her mother Kuruvamma (Anumol) into confidence and the two hide the former’s puberty from the family and the village to help continue her education. Eventually the decision, through a set of developments, pits the women of the village against the men and sees the end of the tradition.
Ayali is also as much about Mythili (Lovelyn Chandrasekar), who gives in to the pressure of the tradition, gets married and eventually loses her alcoholic husband. It is also about Kayalvizhi (Thara), who has her hair cut by way of punishment for stepping into the Ayali temple (women who have attained puberty are forbidden from entering the Ayali temple) to avoid her wedding. It turns out to be Thamizhselvi’s idea to convince her to let her ‘hair go rather than her life’. It is also about Kuruvamma, who is seen savouring the bus journey and the fresh air when escorting Thamizhselvi to her examination centre.
A wedding scene from the series.
In fact, every woman character in Ayali is defiant in their own way, perhaps including Ayali herself. “Who knows?” asks Thamizhselvi at one point. “Perhaps she had also struggled like us against the superstitions, and failed. And then they turned her into a goddess.” In a way, by reclaiming the legacy of Ayali from the patriarchal clutches of the village and using it to to build her own dream, Thamizhselvi sets Ayali free.
“I drew inspiration for Ayali from writers like Tho Paramasivan and Sa Thamizhselvan. They have consistently written about women whose struggles have met with injustices and were eventually worshipped as goddesses,” says R. Muthukumar, the director. Ayali is Muthukumar’s debut film, after assisting the late director Thamira on his last film Aan Devathai and doing some advertisements.
“Everything in this film is what Periyar and Ambedkar said and stood for. From removing the thali and having the hair cut, I have said nothing new. I have just put together everything the leaders said,” he says. “The world constructed by Tamil cinema is not real. I wanted to show something real in my movie.”
Thamizhselvi played by Abi Natchathira and her mother Kuruvamma played by Anumol.
He hit upon the idea of Ayali when a friend told him of a child marriage in his village near Pudukottai district in Tamil Nadu. “It was shocking. Somehow I was thinking that child marriages were a thing of past, that women have become chief ministers and prime ministers. But when I heard of child marriages still happening, I thought I needed to work on it. No questions are asked when something is imposed in the name of belief. Child marriages are no exception. So I had to bring in Ayali.”
Since COVID-19, Tamil Nadu has reported a steady increase in child marriages. According to data, ten cases of child marriage were reported every day on an average between January and August 2022. That perhaps explains why Ayali strikes a powerful chord with its viewers.
Director Muthukumar on the sets.
“Even during discussions, Zee5 was very keen on the series. Of course, they had fears about hurting certain sentiments and they were genuine. They wanted to film to reach the audiences and not disrupted. But how could any sentiment be hurt when the story is told from the point of view of a young school student who only wants to study? How could you ignore her questions?” Muthukumar asks.
