''Power of Women'' is a 2005 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, written and directed by P. Jayadevi. The film stars

Khushbu Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian politician, actress, film producer and television personality. She is known for her work predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil language films and in a few Telugu cinema, Telugu ...

, Hariharan and

Riyaz Khan Riyaz Khan is an Indian actor and bodybuilder. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Tamil cinema, Tamil films and television series, besides acting in a few Telugu language, Telugu and Kannada cinema, Kannada films, as well ...

. Music for the film was composed by Vidyasagar. The film was released on 27 May 2005, and was a box office failure. It won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Second Best Film, and Khan won for Best Villain.

Plot

Aatma ( Hariharan) is an international fusion singer and social activist, who protests for the emancipation of women and writes books on the subject. His latest book, Marana Sasanam, proves to be controversial and subsequently leads to him being put under house arrest. Through a flashback to visiting students, he narrates the story of the Indian village girl Jyoti (

) who marries and is then widowed in her formative years, resulting in her dropping out of education. She then marries a wealthy NRI, Shyam (

), and leaves India to head to Canada. She copes well with the change in her lifestyle until she discovers that Shyam operates an illegal passport business, hence Jyoti attempts to rebel in vain against her husband. Aatma befriends her and offers her solace and subsequently Shyam suspects his wife and Aatma of having an illicit relationship. Jyothi then hears that her husband is going to blow up the CN Tower in Canada, and decides to tell the police but is killed by Shyam. The film concludes with Aatma revealing the various instances in the holy books of different religions which give woman only a secondary status and remarks about his displeasure at the current status quo. The court subsequently chooses not to ban the book.

Cast

as Jothi * Hariharan as Aatma *

as Shyam * Amanda Prasow

Production

Singer Hariharan joined the film's cast in August 2001 and made his acting debut with the venture. Jayadevi initially cast

Parthiban Radhakrishnan Parthiban (born 15 November 1957) is an Indian actor and film director who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has directed 16 films, produced 14 films and acted in more than 70 films. He started his career as assistant director for ...

for Hariharan's role who agreed to act but later pulled out after the film was getting delayed in entering production.

Kausalya Kausalya (, ) is a queen of Kosala in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. She is the first senior queen consort of Dasharatha, who ruled Kosala from its capital Ayodhya. She is the mother of Rama, the male protagonist of the epic. She is a secondar ...

was selected to portray another female lead; however she ultimately did not feature. Scenes were shot in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

during May 2002 with Hariharan and Kushboo.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Vidyasagar.

Critical reception

Malini Mannath from ''Chennai Online'' wrote, "neither do we get to see much oppression here, nor of any serious assertion! It's woman's foolishness, insensitivity and confusion rather than her 'power' that comes across".

References

External links

* {{TamilNaduStateFilmAwardBestFilm 2000s feminist films 2000s Indian films 2000s Tamil-language films 2005 directorial debut films 2005 drama films 2005 films Films about women in India Films directed by P. Jayadevi Films scored by Vidyasagar (composer) Indian drama films Indian feminist films Tamil-language drama films Tamil-language Indian films