Bharathi Kannamma: Difference between revisions

| runtime        = 168 minutes

'''''Bharathi Kannama''''' is a 1997 Indian [[Tamil language|Tamil]]-language [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] directed by [[Cheran (director)|Cheran]], starring [[R. Parthiban|Parthiban]] and [[Meena (actress)|Meena]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinesouth.com/cgi-bin/filmography/newfilmdb.cgi?name=bharathi%20kannamma|title=Bharathi Kannamma|access-date=2013-10-10|publisher=cinesouth}}</ref> The film marks Cheran's debut as a director and screenwriter. It was well received critically and commercially upon release. [[Prabhu Solomon]] remade this film in [[Kannada]] as ''[[Usire (film)|Usire]]'' (Kannada) (2001) with [[V. Ravichandran]].

The [[protagonist]] is a landlord in Devar Palayam. In a community where wealthy landlords do not engage in menial labour, the protagonist carries out all of his chores himself. He does this to make a social statement that all [[Caste|castes]] are equal. He even continues to pay a salary to his employees who would otherwise engage in these chores usually assigned to the lower castes.  

The film enters into a flashback; Bharathi ([[R. Parthiban|Parthiban]]), a suppressed caste-worker for a rich landlord Vellaisamy Thevar ([[Vijayakumar (Tamil actor)|Vijayakumar]]), saves Vellaisamy's daughter Kanamma ([[Meena (actress)|Meena]]) from thugs at a local fair. She begins to love him after he saved her from thugs at the fair. Bharati's sister, Pechi (Indhu), accompanies him to the fair and wants some anklets that Bharati cannot afford. However, when they return and Pechi goes to collect their food for the night, Kanamma doesn't serve them until the rest leave and then gives Pechi [[Anklet|anklets]]. This is seen by Bharati, who falls in love with her but doesn't reciprocate her feelings due to his loyalty towards Vellaisamy. During this time, Pechi is loved by another higher-caste landlord's son in the next village. She successfully forms a relationship with him.

Vellaisamy thinks of marrying his daughter and finds a suitable candidate. On the day of the ''ponnu paarkura'', Kannamma starts a fire, causing the groom's family to view the alliance as inauspicious. Afterwards, Kanamma is treated for her burns by Bharati. Kanamma writes in her diary about her love for Bharati, but is discovered by Vellaisamy but he doesn't know to who she wrote. Although her tears blurred Bharati's name, Vellaisamy beats up his daughter and try to discover who she loves. H. Later, Bharati tells Kanamma that their relationship could not work out due to caste differences. Afterwards, Vellaisamy rushes back to hear his mother, who had a heart attack, whose last wish to see Kanamma married. He consults astrologers who assure him of a match, while Kanamma remains depressed. When driving some of his master's goods through a forest, he is stopped by Maayan, who hears of Kanamma's marriage and says he will stop it.

An unwilling Kanamma makes the [[Animal sacrifice in Hinduism|goat sacrifice]], and Bharati encourages her to accept her new husband, although he does so with great regret. During the sacrifice of the goat, Kanamma hallucinates that she led Bharati before her father and he killed him. Maayan, along with his gang, makes a plan to stop the wedding. Throughout preparations for the wedding, Bharati doesn't speak to Kanamma; but the night before, Pechi delivers a coconut and herbs for her burn medication to Kanamma and consoles her.  

She goes back home and scolds Bharati for neglecting Kanamma because of his master and their caste difference. She tells Bharati to stop Kanamma from potentially killing herself, and he runs to her. Maayan and his gang come to the village and attack Bharati, but the gang is defeated. However, Bharati, delayed by fighting Maayan's gang, is unable to stop Kanamma from committing suicide, and right after he finishes off Maayan a man runs in telling of the tragedy. The whole village is weeping, and Vellaisamy sobs to Bharati about their shared misery. Pechu is even more distraught when she realizes that Kanamma killed herself by ingesting the herbs she brought her. Bharati silently cries at his lover's feet. He beats the [[parai]] at her funeral, unable to speak. After Vellaisamy is guided to light the torch, and all go to bathe in the river, Bharati, reminiscing on their love, yells "Kannamma," throws himself on Kanamma's funeral pyre and burns with her. An anguished Vellaisamy and the other villagers grieve again for Bharati, and Vellaisamy questions why he was so taken in by caste pride. He adopts Bharati's sister Pechi and marries her to her high-caste lover and sends them to the city.  

The film ends years later with an older and wiser Vellaisamy joyfully greeting his adopted daughter Pechi, her husband, and their kids at the train station.

During its release, the film ran into trouble as Thevar community who almost imposed a ban of the film due to its content.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Pillai |first=Sreedhar |date=1998 |title=Mandal and movies |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.21002/page/n637 |magazine=Sunday |pages=55–57}}</ref> In spite of controversies, the film became successful at box-office.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/2003/12/28/stories/2003122800731400.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022153524/http://www.thehindu.com/2003/12/28/stories/2003122800731400.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 October 2017 |title=The politics of art |last=Nambath |first=Suresh |date=28 December 2003 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=4 May 2019}}</ref>