B 32 Muthal 44 Vare movie review: A thought-provoking female gaze on bodies with breasts

Cast: Ramya Nambessan, Anarkali Marikar, Zarin Shihab, Krisha Kurup, Ashwathy B, Raina Radhakrishnan, Harish Uthaman, Sajitha Madathil, Rajith Kumar, Remya Suvi, Peesappilly Rajeevan, Sidharth, Sajin Cherukayil, Gibin Gopinath    

Director: Shruthi Sharanyam

Language: Malayalam  

No other argument should be needed to push for diversity in the arts than that ensuring fair representation of minority and marginalised communities – among creators, decision makers and in themes – is the right thing to do. However, in a selfish world where moneybags measure the desirability of a move by the personal gain to be derived from it, it helps to point out that the arts as a whole benefit from diversity. The latest proof of this axiom is a new Malayalam film that draws its title from a globally used system of determining bra sizes.

Written and directed by Shruthi Sharanyam, B 32 Muthal 44 Vare is produced under the Kerala State Film Development Corporation’s programme for women filmmakers. This is not to say that a man might never make a film on this subject and with this degree of sensitivity, but that it is unlikely, especially until a woman shows the way. Because more often than not, social privilege translates into a limited gaze that others the less privileged. The oppressed thus see so much that members of oppressor communities – barring some exceptional individuals – do not. This is why in the cis-het-male dominated world of cinema, breasts have traditionally come into focus as objects of beauty and a medium of titillation for the viewer. Shruthi’s debut feature is a counter to this reductive gaze albeit with its own share of shortcomings.

B 32 Muthal 44 Vare is not about women alone, but about bodies with breasts, which in itself is a significant acknowledgement of a reality that’s yet to enter the mainstream public discourse in India. Woven into this multi-strand narrative set in Kochi are Ziya (played by Anarkali Marikar), a transgender person who was assigned female at birth but identifies as male and is now in the very early stages of a medically aided transition; Malini (Ramya Nambessan), a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and recovering from a mastectomy; Iman (Zarin Shihab), a hotel front-office staffer facing discrimination because she does not have a buxom frame; a teenaged mother called Nidhi (Raina Radhakrishnan); Jaya (Ashwathy B), a domestic worker who unexpectedly gets a modelling offer; and the feisty aspiring actor, Rachel (Krisha Kurup). Each of them is introduced with a text plate indicating their name and bra size.

As these characters navigate life, B 32 Muthal 44 Vare views breasts both metaphorically and literally, as sources of nourishment and of pleasure, as markers of identity, self-esteem, pain and/or loss, and variously as instruments of exploitation, control, stereotyping, assertion and agency. That a government organisation has backed such a film is remarkable. KSFDC’s decision to produce B 32 Muthal 44 Vare is incredibly progressive, making it all the more exasperating that they have barely promoted it. This is a separate, and long, discussion.

Though B 32 Muthal 44 Vare handles multiple ideas, it does not feel crowded, contrived or sermonic. The links between the leads are slipped in smoothly without building suspense around how they are connected, as other similarly constructed films have often done. Although the script does not dig as deep with Ziya, Rachel and Nidhi as it does with Malini, Jaya and Iman, among its stand-out elements is the depiction of Ziya as a self-assured individual, one of the most confident in this ensemble, notwithstanding his discomfort with his body. This is a noteworthy departure from conventional assumptions made by film industries worldwide that stories centred around the marginalised must perforce be weepies and that their protagonists would naturally be tragic even if resilient figures. Ziya’s experiences are not unrealistically idealised though. (Minor spoilers coming up in this paragraph) His social interactions instead cover a spectrum ranging from an intrusive stranger who objectifies him, to unruffled, accepting colleagues and friends. His palpable sexual chemistry with another character in the script is an instance of normalisation rarely seen in Indian cinema. (Spoiler alert ends)

That said, the casting of a cis woman in the role calls for a discussion. Anarkali is an excellent actor who plays Ziya with such nuance that, sans caricature or mimicry, she makes us aware from the very first second on screen that Ziya is not a cisgender woman with facial fuzz but a trans man with breasts. I was conflicted about the casting though, and did something I would usually not while writing a review: I phoned the director to ask why. Shruthi says she could not find a transgender actor who identifies as male but had not yet made a physical transition. This is tricky because breasts are an essential physical attribute of Ziya, using prosthetics would have been self-defeating, and no doubt it would be challenging to locate a talented actor who is at this precise point in their own journey, but it is equally true that “we could not find anyone” is the reasoning consistently offered even by well-meaning people in all scenarios where questions of representation are raised – ask any feminist who has ever criticised an event manager for assembling a manel. To be fair, we do not know the budgetary and time constraints the director was dealing with in this case, and it would be a mistake to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but this aspect of B 32 Muthal 44 Vare should certainly be a conversation.

A majority of transgender characters in Indian cinema have so far been trans women played by cis men. In a country where most high-profile portrayals of transgender persons on screen have been loud, if not stereotypical and crude, the tenderness in the performances by Sanchari Vijay in Naanu Avanalla…Avalu (Kannada, 2015), Jayasurya in Njan Marykkutty (Malayalam, 2018) and Vijay Sethupathi in Super Deluxe (Tamil, 2019), stand out in recent years for defying that terrible norm, epitomised by Akshay Kumar in the horrific Laxmii (Hindi, 2020). But years have passed and there has been considerable public conversation on the subject in India since Naanu Avanalla…Avalu, Njan Marykkutty and Super Deluxe came out, as a result of which viewers and filmmakers who have been listening are aware that a well-meaning cisgender artiste is no substitute for a transgender actor. Kerala, in fact, showed the way in this regard with Sheethal Shyam in Aabhaasam (2018) and Meera Singhania in the brilliant ad for Bhima Jewellery that became a talking point in 2021. There is not enough space here to write a comprehensive analysis of this thematic element in B 32 Muthal 44 Vare, so suffice it to say that though in many ways this film is important in the arena of LGBT+ representation in Indian cinema, the debate cannot be laid to rest on those grounds.

The positivity in B 32 Muthal 44 Vare extends beyond Ziya to all the primary players in the plot. Not everyone has an easy happy ending, and by the end of the film, most of them are unsure of where the road ahead could go, but the recurrent motif of allyship is a refreshing change from the social stereotype of women forever pulling each other down. This does not mean the script pedestalises women – thankfully not. It is realistic enough to incorporate a range of characters including female enablers of patriarchy, predatory and opportunistic men, male allies, and both men and women who regress and progress along the way.

The dialogue writing is effective where it is naturalistic, which is most of the time. It stumbles though over Malini and with Iman’s boss Leena. The profusion of English words in Malini’s lines are written in a way that suggests she is more relaxed with English than she actually comes across as being when she speaks. The exchange between Iman and Leena, and a dinner party in Malini’s house also come across as awkward.

B 32 Muthal 44 Vare’s opening and closing credits roll alongside Sudeep Palanad’s bouyant song Aaro avalaaro in Remya Vinaya Kumar, Remya Sarvada Das and Sreedevi Thekkedat’s voices. Apart from the pleasure of hearing a soundtrack dominated by women – not common in Indian cinema – I enjoyed the instrumentation and Shruthi’s lyrics for this particular musical number steeped in poetic assertiveness. Despite their tribulations, each of these characters is, like the heroine of the song, one “who chooses to step over shadows and not fade away.” Nice.

A caveat here: when Aaro avalaaro initially plays, Ziya is painting. His completed canvas captures more complexities on the gender spectrum than the song that is about aval (she/her).

Shruthi has gathered a top-notch cast to tell a tale of intersecting lives across class, caste and religious divides in B 32 Muthal 44 Vare. Saddled with some stilted lines and lack of clarity in defining foster parenting in a crucial passage, Ramya nevertheless generates compassion for Malini with her speaking face. Anarkali and Ashwathy’s sterling acting is accompanied by Zarin, Krisha and Raina’s solid renditions of their roles and several striking supporting performances including Harish Uthaman as Malini’s wavering husband, Rajith Kumar as Nidhi’s Dad and Sajin Cherukayil as a filmmaker who wears his feminism on his sleeve.

Sudeep Elamon’s camerawork mirrors B 32 Muthal 44 Vare’s unshowy, slice-of-life tone, as does Rahul Radhakrishnan’s editing. And while the song Anandam in the closing segment is pleasant to the ear, it is occasionally overpowering and stretches the finale unnecessarily.

With all this, B 32 Muthal 44 Vare remains absorbing till the end. The characters in this film are believable, relatable and inspiring in the way they respond to the curve balls thrown at them. Jaya, for instance, is caught in an exploitative situation, but turns it around for herself, and in showing this, the script does not condone the exploitation or make insinuations about her. There is a delicacy and consideration with which Shruthi engages with her six protagonists, painting them not as raging goddesses but as very human blends of strength and vulnerability. The narrative is bookended by ignorant boys making ridiculous remarks about breasts, thus cleverly underlining the urgent necessity for more films like B 32 Muthal 44 Vare.

It takes a special mind to envision a film where breasts are a common thread running through interlinked stories, not as a documentary, a lecture or a skin-show pageant, but as moving, entertaining cinema. Shruthi is that special mind and B 32 Muthal 44 Vare a special film.

Rating: 3.25 (out of 5 stars) 

B 32 Muthal 44 Vare is currently in select theatres in Kerala. KSFDC confirms that it will later be released on the organisation’s OTT platform scheduled to be launched this year.

Anna M.M. Vetticad is an award-winning journalist and author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. She specialises in the intersection of cinema with feminist and other socio-political concerns. Twitter: @annavetticad, Instagram: @annammvetticad, Facebook: AnnaMMVetticadOfficial

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