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When a young girl goes through her first menstrual cycle in Tamil Nadu, her coming of age is celebrated with a range of rituals based on her caste position within Tamil society. These rituals — which involve dressing the girl in traditional attire of silk saree and gold ornaments like a bride, showering her with turmeric water to 'purify' her (known as Manjal Neerattu Vizha in Tamil), asking her to wear a piece of iron to ward off evil spirits, and a coming-of-age ceremony at the end of her first cycle to cleanse her family of the 'theetu' (meaning impurity) that is associated with menstruation — are not uncommon in Tamil households even today.
Though seemingly a celebration of womanhood on the surface, these rituals are rooted in patriarchal notions of purity and impurity, which in turn are often associated with menstruation. Although these rituals are observed as a customary announcement of a girl's coming of reproductive age, these puberty ceremonies also have specific implications which come in conflict with the autonomy and agency of young women.
The tension caused by these ancient rituals is the undercurrent that runs through filmmaker Apoorva Satish's graduation film 'Kanya' (2020). The film premiered at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival in 2020 and was a semi-finalist at the 2021 Student Academy Awards.
The film intimately explores the inner dissonance of an adolescent girl — the eponymous Kanya played by Tarunya Satish — who is coming of age while also preparing for a promising career as a swimmer. Her dream of pursuing a professional career in competitive swimming is challenged when she gets her first period and her conservative South Indian family demands that she gives up on her dream and accepts her hegemonic gender identity as a woman.
In traditional Tamil families, the Manjal Neerattu Vizha ceremony not only commemorates a young girl's coming of age but also signals her suitability as a wife at the prime of her reproductive age. “Back when child marriage was legal in India, this was a tradition that was performed as a way to signal to potential grooms that a young woman was ready to start a family,” Satish explains in her statement about the film. “Even though child marriage is no longer legal, the festival has carried on being a tradition.”
Although Kanya yields to all her conservative parents' demands and seemingly accepts her fate without objecting, Apoorva Satish captures her inner tension and turmoil through skilful cross-editing of scenes from Kanya's real life and visions of her inner landscape as she weightlessly floats underwater. As her inner disharmony escalates, she finally musters the courage to revolt against the system that pre-defines what it means to be a woman.
Kanya was part of the official selection for the Busan International Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival in 2020.
Apoorva Satish's 'Kanya' is currently streaming on Nowness Asia. Watch the film here.
