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A CRITICAL READING OF GATTA KUSTHI THROUGH THE LENS OF

GENDER STUDIES

Tamil romantic comedy sports film, Gatta Kusthi, written and directed by Chella

Ayyavu, explicitly addresses and challenges gender norms and conventions in middle-class

South Asian society. The movie tells the story of Keerthi (played by Aiswarya Lakshmi), a Gatta

Kusthi champion and BSc graduate from Palakkad. When her father suffers a stroke for the

second time after failing to find her a match from Kerala, she is forced to give consent to marry

Veera (played by Vishnu Vishal), who only has an VIII grade education and lives off his

ancestral inheritance, from Pollachi, Tamil Nadu.

Gatta Kusthi is a satire that discusses gender politics. Disguised as comedy, Chella

Ayyavu presents a compelling and stirring plot that portrays the many issues of the institution of

marriage, chauvinism, toxic masculinity, and conventional femininity that are always set in their

ways to sideline women to assume the role of a subservient wife and homemaker, despite their

academic excellence and achievements. While at the same time managing to subvert gender

norms and slyly commenting on society's perception of female athletes.

The film portrays how the idea of marriage as a pivotal and defining moment in a

woman's life still persists despite the numerous socio-political and economic shifts that have

taken place over time, and points out how family sentiments are often used against women to

emotionally manipulate them into entering a marriage against their wishes, bringing about an end

to their dreams and aspirations. Ayyavu sets out to tell a rural tale about sexism. There's a strong

whiff of 90s commercial cinema, which starts with tropes that we have seen in films of that

period and then surprises us by gradually subverting most of them in a refreshing and

entertaining manner.
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An Ideal Bride

According to the perceptions of conservative society, Keerthi is a "modern woman", She

wears t-shirts and track pants, has short hair, and is said to have "anger issues" for reacting

against the misogyny around her. In every aspect, she is the polar opposite of what Veera

considers an ideal wife to be, and to top it all, she is a wrestling champion. Veera's outlook on

women and his preconceived notions of an ideal bride are shaped by his chauvinist uncle Ratnam

(played by Karunas), the epitome of patriarchy. Veera describes a woman with short hair as

"nothing but a man" and instead wants a woman with long hair that runs her back and hangs

above the ankles so that when she walks "it should oscillate like a pendulum". He also wants his

wife to be less educated than him, someone who listens to what he says and abides by, an

uneducated woman who is ignorant of what is happening around her and would simply stick to

making curry and rasam for him, because marrying an educated girl would mean he would be

under her control. Veera's conditions reflect the stereotypical mindset of uneducated, shallow

men in rural society, who consider a well-educated woman to be intimidating and expose the

inherent thought that their wish for a timid, submissive and conservative wife does not arise from

admiration but out of a sheer love for tradition that gives men superiority in a marriage and the

need to control and assert dominance.

The Institution of Marriage

The traditional custom of Bride Seeing Ceremony in Kerala, which most of the time

equals a form of informal business meeting with proposals and compromises made, is well

employed in the movie to showcase the varied demands and conditions women and their families

are subjected to before marriage. People's instant rejection of Keerthi when they learn she is a
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wrestler, leads to her parents' attempt to talk her out of wrestling because it appears to be the

major cause of intimidation for prospective grooms and their mothers-loss of identity and

freedom to express being its core problem; Keerthi's traditional attire of a typical Malayali

woman for Veera's bride seeing to fit into his beauty standards, based on his preconditions with

prosthetic hair and saree in contrast to the other occasions when she was being her authentic self;

the lie about her having a lower education than him, her transition from an unconventional

woman to a traditional one after getting married to Veera, among many others, show how women

are forced to change, let go off their true self and be deceitful in order to confirm themselves to

the preconceived notions and standards of patriarchal society.

Veera, whose only redeeming quality is his good looks, and Keerthi taking a liking for

him when he rejects the dowry her family offers, despite his lack of education and

shallow-mindedness, reflect poor standards and how women are socially conditioned to settle for

less for the sake of family.

Women as both Victims and Torchbearers of Patriarchy

Patriarchy often begins at home with mothers, a system they themselves were once

victims of but have grown accustomed to and conditioned to accept. They eventually expose

their own daughters to similar subjugation, and the cycle goes on. Keerthi's grandmother, mother,

and the mothers of all the potential grooms that visit Keerthi are both victims and carriers of

patriarchal norms and conventions. In one instance, the mother doesn't want her son to marry

Keerthi, for she is a wrestler, out of fear of getting hit, and blatantly questions her ability to be a

homemaker. Another complains that Keerthi's short hair makes her look like a guy, while another

demands a hundred sovereign gold, ten lakh cash, and an Innova car. At the hospital, when

Keerthi cries after her father asks her to give up on wrestling, her grandmother jokes that once
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married she can wrestle inside her home, stating that every married woman is a wrestler,

establishing marriage as a system of cyclic physical and emotional abuse rather than a sacred

bond that unites two people who share mutual love and respect for each other. Keerthi's mother

can very often be seen reluctant to admit that her daughter is a wrestler. When the groom's family

asks her, she's quick to answer, "No, she used to do it in college", and ensures them that she

wouldn't pursue wrestling after marriage. Gusthi, in her opinion, is a man's sport and is therefore

not appropriate for a woman. When Keerthi counters that there are no gender differences in

sports, she chastices her and asks, "What if your face gets damaged wrestling? Who would marry

you then?", For her, marriage is the highest form of accomplishment in a woman's life.

When Keerthi comes home after a fight with Veera and her father enrolls her in the upcoming

Gatta Kusthi championship to see her go back to being her old self and be happy again, Keerthi's

mother berates him, asking not to make things worse. While there's a shift in her father that

wants Keerthi to go back to wrestling, her mother still insists that he find ways to send her back.

Women in Sports

Wrestling is a much-revered sport in India, but women's rise to prominence to reach the

same heights as men was gradual. And now, Indian female wrestlers bring glory to the nation at

every championship. Women continue to take up wrestling as a sport, unafraid of societal

stereotypes and boundations. India's highest-grossing Bollywood film, Dangal, tells the story of

the celebrated Phogat family of wrestlers, whose patriarch, Mahavir Singh Phogat, defied

societal norms and trained his daughters to become wrestlers. Similar to this is the 2017

Malayalam film Godha, which tells the story of Aditi Singh, a Punjab University wrestling

champion, who flees to Kerala when her brothers try to marry her off and eventually finds herself

participating in gatta kusthi. While the women in these stories thrived under the guidance of a
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captain who previously held the title of gusthi champion, Keerthi in Gatta Kusthi is alone in her

fight to achieve her dream.

Keerthi's parents were of the opinion that kusthi was a game primarily meant for men

and not for women. At the hospital, when Keerthi tells her father she can make it big as a

wrestler, his response is that "for the women of our country, family comes first. Dreams and

ambition come after everything else'' and that "we are middle-class people. It won't suit us." ,

This stands to show how women are obliged to perform the gender roles assigned to them by the

hegemonic norms and how women are often made to choose between having a career and family

life. Though at first her fight turns out to be futile, towards the end, her family and husband

eventually come around and realise the fault in their conventional ways. The relationship

between the class system and patriarchy is also brought to attention. The lower the class, the

harder it is going to be for women to overcome the stifling constraints of patriarchal society and

reach their goals. When Keerthi is told if one is desperate to pursue their dreams they must turn a

deaf ear to their family, her response vividly portrays the dilemma of every woman who dares to

dream,

"Players from other countries have to compete only with their opponents. But in India,

first, you need to compete with the family and win. You'll be half-tired. After that, we

won't have the energy to compete with our opponents."

While the line sits right on keerthi, anyone who has had their wings clipped can relate to it.

Chella Ayyavu makes a great point about the politics of gender in sports. While most

men are given the liberty to simply chase their dreams and do what they want to do with their

life, women often have to fight for this basic human right. This statement substantiates the scene

in which a girl can be seen forcefully taken back from the training, whose parents claim that she's
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run away from home, while the girl cries out loud that she wants to be a wrestler and begs them

not to marry her off. The sexually implicit approaches of Lokesh, Keerthi's coach, towards her

and the other trainees sheds light on how men in power often take advantage of their position to

abuse women.

Male Ego and Masculinity

Veera is highly misguided under the influence of his chauvinist uncle Ratnam, who is the

flagbearer of toxic masculinity. The character of Veera stands to prove that misogynists are not

born but made through social conditioning. His uncle Ratnam represents and reinstates the

patriarchal system of belief. His descriptions about the advantages of women having long hair

paints a violent image of his tendency and capacity to commit domestic abuse. On the night of

the wedding, Ratnam berates an enchanted Veera and warns him not to smile at his wife and be

arrogant so that he will not be taken advantage of and instead will be feared and respected.

Ayyavu subverts the archetypes of gender roles, with Keerthi becoming the saviour when Veera

is attacked by a group of goons, in contrast to the cliched 'hero saves the heroine' trope. Veera's

male ego is hurt and feels humiliated by the fact that he was saved by a woman. Veera is then

belittled by those around him, and Keerthi is set at the forefront to assume the role he previously

held in society.

Veera's sense of masculinity is challenged when the villain Dass refuses to fight him,

saying, "I can even go to a fight with an infant, but I will never fight you. It's an insult to fight

you.". This emphasises how, in a patriarchal society, power, pride and honor is directly attributed

to someone based on their gender and not on the basis of an established identity and authentic

personality. Veera, whose defining feature was only his gender and masculinity, is reduced to

nothing and receives the penultimate blow when Dass no longer wants to exact revenge on him.
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His uncle Ratnam considers it an insult to be saved by a woman and rather wishes that Veera

died that day. Ratnam convincing Veera to fight Keerthi to reclaim his manhood shows how men

like him believe that a man would only earn respect and a solid position in the society if he

asserts power over his wife and keeps her under control.

Feminism and Women Empowerment

Keerthi is an unconventional woman in every aspect. She's smart, daring, and valorous.

She speaks her mind and dreams of fighting for the country. But despite being a champion in the

ring, she's only seen by her gender outside. Though she tries to hide her true self after her

marriage with Veera, she is no longer able to contain the wrestler within her when she finds her

husband in danger. When Ratnam complains, she takes her stand, saying, "I am a wrestler; I'll

fight!". The event that marks the turning point is when Ratnam lectures Keerthi's uncle on how

she should have been "brought up like a girl", and hurls insults at her, at which point she slaps

him, silencing the voice of misogyny, and questions for how he's going to keep up his charade of

morally policing women. Following this incident, Veera slapping Keerthi without even bothering

to ask her side of the story and her uncle's stance that she will apologise portrays how women are

always assumed to be guilty, held accountable, and expected to apologise to maintain peace

regardless of the cause or who initiated the dispute. When Keerthi takes leave, her statement that

she will only return if Veera is ready to let go of his fragile male ego marks the moment when

she no longer wants to conform herself to somebody else's ideals and play by the rules of the

patriarchy.

Ratnam's wife, who for most of the film blended into the background, at the point of the

nearing climax breaks her silence at the fiasco that is unfolding before her and points out to

Veera the absurdity of his decision to fight Keerthi, leading him to realise the faults in his
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thoughts and actions. She corrects Veera's misconceptions about marriage, stating that men need

the constant presence of women all their lives and that marriage and looking after the children

are shared responsibilities that require mutual respect and effort put into them to make them

work. She reinstates that marriage and children add meaning and give a sense of purpose to a

man's life. It is then revealed that she herself is a victim of patriarchy who was married off just

like Keerthi, unlike whom, for unknown reasons, her circumstances did not simply allow her to

rebel.

Sexist Paradoxes

Despite its good intentions, the employment of comedy in the wrong places renders its

messaging ineffective. Though the movie portrays the plight of hardworking women for whom

the social evil of 'marriage' denies them the opportunity to pursue their dreams, it paradoxically

nurtures the idea that only talented and witty women should get to live their lives on their own

terms, as depicted through Ratnam's wife's submission to his disrespectful treatment of her

despite being a graduate. Besides being the one to talk sense into Veera, pointing out the fault in

his ways, her character isn't given an identity of her own and remains unnamed throughout the

movie. While the film advocates against the idea of "women fixing men", it ironically uses

Keerthi to fix Veera.