Film Review: 96 (2018)

K. Ramachandran and Janaki Devi, two adolescents profoundly in love with each other, meet again after a long span of 20 years. 96 (2018) is a Tamil romantic film of these two friends who pass one evening together reliving their memories, reminiscing of the past and trying to understand why things possibly didn’t work out for them. Set in the adolescence and early youth of the protagonists, the first part of the film talks about a suppressed love of Ram for Jaanu – a feeling and an un-expressed desire left to bleed alone. Although the second part mostly covers the evening spent together (the present), it also shows the past as potential but unfulfilled moments of change in life for the two. We wonder if the two lovers will now unite again against the flow of their respective lives set apart by their choices in the past and the current circumstances. This is what the film tries to find a solution to. However, owing to the expected solution the film points to, it is unable to make an impact beyond the screening time.

Ram’s Inhibitions - The film starts with Ram as an accomplished photographer, passionately exploring different geographies – deserts, oceans, sea beaches, etc. and he seems to be completely immersed in his photography - at times, living in the wild and at times, training students in his art. After being distanced from his childhood beloved, Ram has invested himself in photography and (t)his art seems to have become a means of forgetting her. Photographer as a career choice goes well with this character that we discover as extremely introvert and emotional when it comes to his love, Jaanu, his school friend. The first part shows the lighter moments of the film so as to underline the strong feelings between the two. Completely enamoured, Ram misses Jaanu sorely and his world seems empty when she is absent from school. Unlike stories where love is unrequited, here, we have two adolescents who know they love each other. The thorny part of the affair is Ram’s lack of will and his lack of courage to express his feelings. Ram’s inhibitions vis-à-vis Jaanu form the crucial point and remain a constant throughout the film. This is brought to light through two incidents, both repeated in the second half. In the first incident, Jaanu is seen standing in front of the class. She is a good singer and it appears that Jaanu is willing to sing a song of Ram’s choice provided he communicates the same to her, which doesn’t happen (in either of the parts). As the timid Ram doesn’t take the required initiative, Jaanu then sings a song than the one in Ram’s mind. In yet another scene, Ram’s timidity is exemplified when Jaanu touches him and unable to bear her proximity, he falls unconscious. Even after twenty years, he is unable to master his feelings for her and becomes breathless on Jaanu’s touch. Thus, Ram’s inhibition vis-à-vis his beloved remains unchanged despite so many years.   

The bold Jaanu - Ram’s inhibition is cast in opposition to Jaanu’s overt expressions of love and the two are completely different in terms of their handling of emotions. If Ram’s inhibitions haunt him (and Jaanu too!) forever, Jaanu’s character is a welcome mix of boldness and love for Ram. There was something good and interesting about this character. Unlike the usual girl characters, Jaanu is different – self conscious, affectionate, caring, bold but obscene. She wants to acknowledge her love for Ram and is waiting for him to express his feelings. The choice to sing a different song acts as a deliberate provocation at the hands of Jaanu and in a way, mocks at Ram’s inhibitions. She is unperturbed by the societal gaze and doesn’t shy away from looking at Ram, touching his chest or (in the second half) from spending a complete evening alone with him in his house. Moreover, she commits certain acts of transgression that I found worth taking note of.

The first act of transgression happens over the bridge before the onset of vacations. As Jaanu and Ram approach the bridge, Jaanu is supposed to continue along the road while Ram has to cross the bridge to reach his house. Jaanu unexpectedly decides to continue along with Ram and stops at midpoint of the bridge where she spills ink over Ram’s shirt. Bridge as a unifying element of two sides opens the possibility of creating new destinations for paths not destined to meet. This is therefore an interesting scene given its location – the bridge used as a symbol of crossing or transgression. Then, the act of spilling ink is symbolic of Jaanu’s intent of doing an act otherwise reserved for boys. Such a sexual transgression is welcome as it changes our ways of perception about acts deemed ‘masculine/feminine’. Some other transgressions, although not as strong, occur in the second part of the film. For example: Jaanu is shown wearing Ram’s clothes, something that symbolically helps her feel Ram intimately. She is keen to touch Ram’s hand as shown in the scene where she deliberately puts her hand on gears while Ram is in the driver’s seat or in the metro. All these incidents reveal that Jaanu is ready to go beyond her set borders and reach out for Ram. She anticipates the same from Ram but is kept waiting in the first part. And what happens in the second constitutes the climax.  

Realist or not?  

a) After the film, some of my friends (Balaji, Pushan) felt that the film’s climax was very realist in its portrayal of Ram and Jaanu. Jaanu is still the same. She is bold, affectionate towards her friends, a good singer, etc. Importantly, as a married woman now, she bears the weight of the promise of love and fidelity towards her husband. As a friend suggested, as a ‘good’ Indian wife, she is expected to follow our traditions and maintain the sacrosanctity of marriage. Similarly, Ram has barely changed. He has always been very emotional about Jaanu. A world with any other than Jaanu is beyond him. An evening without electricity in Jaanu’s company can make him ill at ease or just her touch can make him breathless. A sexual friction with Jaanu hence remains unconceivable in his scheme of things. Love (Jaanu) for Ram is ‘purity incarnated’ and any physical contact is akin to breaching that trust of love. Given Ram’s sacrosanct notion of love and Jaanu’s personal disposition, it is but logical and realist that the two lovers bid goodbye without consensual sex and without any effort to change their life paths. According to this point of view, the relationship remains as it was, in fact; it becomes clearly an impossible relationship (all things remaining constant). This point of view is indicated by the title of the film. At the surface level, ‘96’ indicates the reunion of pass-out students of the year 1996. However, at a deeper level, it represents an incomplete (sexual) union of Ram and Jaanu. If 69 is a number laden with sexual connotations, 96 is its inverse - the two characters need to be seen as two digits that will never walk along the same path together, or even if they were to be together, it wouldn’t be a fulfilling union, there will be something amiss. Incompleteness will be the permanent characteristic of their relationship.

b) A few others (Deva, Naveen) were of the opinion that the film wasn’t realist enough in its climax. The argument was the two like each other’s company despite their circumstances. They happily eat a meal together, take a metro or train in each other’s company, spend one complete evening away from their friends gaze. Their togetherness is genuine and reciprocal. Despite their strong feelings for each other, how was it possible for them to abstain from a physical union? From 1996 to 2016, Tamil society and in general, the sections of the society the lovers come from, have certainly changed. Especially with the characters growing old and given their attraction for each other; it would be a huge disappointment to witness a continuation of sexually barren relationship. Like the other climax, a sexually gratified union seems an equally logical climax either to close the relationship or to keep it going at a different level.  

The two scenarios of climax - as a) an impossible relationship and as b) an open ended but a sexually gratified relationship – both have solid arguments in their respective favours and each can claim to be true. While one could always ask what realism means, if it can be compared and to what extent does the film’s climax goes closer to ‘real’, ‘more-real-than-the-other’s realism’ is a position both the sides can have recourse to and it is therefore very difficult to side with one particular climax. So, I propose to resolve this issue in the following way and my judgement goes in favour of b). If there are multiple solutions provided by realism and all being equally convincing, we need to resort to the role of Art (cinéma) as a medium of change.

In many Indian films (Tamil or otherwise) and in the typical Indian middle class cultural ethos, the feminine becomes the seat of emotions and women/girls are shown to be shy, decent, and modest. Women/girls are custodians of traditions, culture and are therefore expected to be pure. Any stain to their purity or to their ‘pure’ bodies incurs wrath of the dominant sex (male) and leads to a disastrous world. Our films have taught our girls to discipline themselves and have conditioned them to behave/act as per accepted norms. Baring certain films daring to portray scandalous and provocative characters, a considerable number of our films have shown, time and again, the shyness, docility and tolerance of female characters, whether it be serving their husbands/fathers/brothers or in their ‘good’ behaviours in school/college or in their suppressed sexual behaviours. The desperate need for transgression and a sexual one at that hints at the skewed relations between sexes and the transgression becomes an act of personal politics and liberation. What we therefore need in Indian society are uninhibited female characters like Jaanu willing to transgress. While being a reflection of our society, cinema can create such real-life like characters. It can also imagine different stories, different societies and pave a way for different trajectories, alternative destinations for our future.   

Just as much as we need more Jaanu in our society, in this context, we also need emotional, lonely, male characters like Ram. He has healthy relationship with his other female friends and his students. He gets along well with the gateman of his school. He carefully keeps all belongings associated with his love. However, let us also be aware that individuals like Ram can be quite tricky at times. Ram’s character can fall in the trap of being too puritanical that considers love in the form of biblical guilt. While Ram’s loneliness in the film is welcome, I feel the continuous upholding of love as a sacred/pure object could have undesirable consequences in our male dominated society. A consequence of such passionate love for instance could be to treat the object of his love as his sole property, an exclusive right. Unlike Ram, Jaanu has been bold enough to cross certain barriers. Her part of transgression is mostly commendable baring one – the physical union. Some may argue that a complete union doesn’t necessarily always require a sexual union and a platonic relationship can be as gratifying as any other. Moreover, a physical union with Ram may perhaps be unimaginable realistically. However, such an act could have suggested a creative end (or opening) of a complete, willed transgression.