Bhavana’s quiet triumph: A star who deserves applause beyond symbolism

A visit to a movie theatre is a trek these days. Tickets and snacks that cost the earth, traffic jams, and pollution have made people reluctant to step out of home without a pressing reason. It's in this context that I made a trip to a multiplex in NCR to watch the Malayalam film Anomie this month, and witnessed viewers break into applause when the leading lady, Bhavana, emerged on screen. Clearly, she was their pressing reason for being there.

In an ideal world, this would not be a surprise. Bhavana is, after all, a beloved star of Malayalam and Kannada cinema, with a filmography extending to Tamil and Telugu too. But the fact is that a committed audience clapping, whistling and hooting in theatres is usually reserved for mainstream male stars, because most commercial productions are designed to lionise male protagonists, which then translates to a crazed mass fandom raucously cheering these characters and the men who play them. If women rarely elicit such reactions, it's because they rarely get such amped-up on-screen treatment.

For the record, the applause for Bhavana where I watched Anomie was not raucous. Instead, it brought to mind the thundering ovation she received when she appeared on stage at the 2022 International Film Festival of Kerala after a 5-year hiatus from Malayalam cinema, in which time she had become a powerful symbol of resistance to patriarchy and misogyny.


Bhavana's decision to report an assault in 2017 sparked the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective. This rights body's groundbreaking campaign for gender equality in Malayalam filmdom has had a ripple effect on the Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali industries. Bhavana's courage is inspiring. But watching Anomie reminded me of how little we discuss her professional achievements that are equally inspiring considering the continued male domination of Indian cinema.

In Anomie, Bhavana plays a forensic expert investigating her brother's disappearance parallel to an official police probe. After a somewhat suspenseful first half, writer-director Riyas Marath seems out of his depth while handling an intriguing theme related to the human consciousness. The result is a muddled and middling sci-fi/crime thriller in which the only standout elements are Bhavana's and her co-star Rahman's charisma.

It's a quality that stood out 24 years back too, when the teenaged Bhavana debuted playing a sprightly slum resident in director Kamal's Nammal (Us). Her performance in that small supporting role earned a Special Jury Mention at the 2002 Kerala State Film Awards. In the two decades since, she has built a flourishing career as a heroine.

Bhavana's next Kerala State Film Award, this time as Best Actress Runner-Up 2005, came for her work as the central character in Jayaraj's Daivanamathil (In the Name of God), written by Aryadan Shoukath. Here she played a Muslim youngster from a conservative home, married to a man from a progressive family whose life turns upside down following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.

Among the many trophies to her name is also the Best Actress Filmfare Award for her Tamil debut as a social worker in love with a hoodlum in writer-director Mysskin's Chithiram Pesuthadi (The Picture Speaks, Dear) in 2006. These were flawed films. But Bhavana grew with each one.

That said, like most women in Indian cinema, she hasn't got enough well-developed roles in well-written scripts that placed her character, rather than a man, at the centre of the plot. My favourite Bhavana starrer in a while has been Adhil Maimoonath Asharaf's finely crafted relationship saga, Ntikkakkakkoru Premandaarnnu (My Brother Was Once In Love), that's remarkably subtle in addressing multiple themes, including the heroine's Hindu identity and her romantic partner's Muslim background, complemented by quality acting.

Bhavana deserves every iota of support she's received in her fight for justice. But she also deserves to be celebrated for the star and gifted artiste that she is.