The yin & yang of (trans)migrating manliness

S Viswanath

A 32 mins prologue or preface, wherein a young Karthi and Subbu – graduate from school mates to machoistic machete bearing hired hitmen unleashing bloody violence, provides the socio-cultural context and compelling channel for Karthik Subbaraj’s convoluted cacophonic cauldron of a cinema Dorothy when the title card appears and the film picks up pace setting off on its nearly two and half hours rambunctious social raconteur roadie trip.

Incidentally, the film had its world premiere at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival 2026 and featured in the Centrepiece Section, a primary showcase dedicated to acclaimed international films, festival favourites, world premieres, and new works from global filmmaking luminaries, with specific focus on art house cinemas, culturally specific stories that travel globally, et al., marking the first Indian Tamil feature to premiere at TIFF in over a decade.

A highly, heavy duty virulent, violent drama of misogynist machoism, we see how a young masculinity indoctrinated Subbu takes under his wings his new found pusillanimous pal, a weepy, wussy Karthi through the rigorous ritual of indoctrination that “men must be brave, I’ll make you one,” takes the onerous responsibility to make a ‘man’ of him.

“Why are you scared of blood? Why do you always look scared? Why are you flinching like a hen? “Why do you cry? Men don’t cry”” posers after posers whiplash Karthi in Tsunamic torrents as the toughie Subbu wills it upon himself to baptise Karthi into a big brazen ‘brave heart’ and punctiliously groom him into the perquisites of ‘manhood’ – “when we grow up we too must kiss a girl like this. Pay attention.”

Asking him to ‘man up’ and battle his bullies facing his tormentors as Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth emboldens her hesitant hubby in the tragic play: “But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail,” Subbu, who proudly proclaims “my dad and brothers have been to jail,” making him much dreaded despot, sees the two given their first hit job by local gangster Vadivu to finish off Daaka.

Thus, both Karthi & Subbu go on to become ‘gangsters’ they aspire to be embracing rowdyism and violence as a symbol of their manhood and machoism, following caste intervention putting paid to their ambitions of wedding their love interests with Karthi losing Thangamalar and Subbu his Dhanam fleeing his homestead when his hidden hormonal inclinations – “I am my mother’s daughter. All you chauvinistic pricks will never understand are found out by his misogynist maniacal dad Veerayya and his two elder brothers – Velu and Kalai when they confront the crossing dressed sibling.

The arrival of Dorothy from Keralam as wife of one of Subbu’s brother, to who Subbu endears and ensconces himself and her eventual death by hanging sees the film take a new direction as Subbu and Karthi (now ordered by Veerayya & brothers with killing the once macho now turned effeminate Subbu given the family’s “honour is everything” is at stake. “Taking him somewhere faraway and finish him off.”

The foreword of the film sputters to a start when the once wimpy, weepy sissy of a truckman Karthi, finally coming to terms with his own sexuality, calls up the whistling malevolent misogynist Veerayya from a wayside STD public call office booth from Karnataka’s Davangere that the deed has been done. “Subbu is dead. I have killed him.”

Then on, as Karthi hits the highway on his truck, the film turns into a roadie, after all Remembrance Of Things Past have been narrated as a prelude, we witness how the film takes a 360 degree bromance turn into making a clarion call, pursuing thereafter, to profess its pithy and profound social treatise on assimilation into the social mainstream the transgenders of society eschewing toxic masculinity and societal misgivings about their ilk that has kept them at bay due to gender discrimination.

At the quintessential core of Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy is how society conditions its young boys and youth into the machoism path, accepting one’s gender identity and last, but not the least, how society should assimilate and accept transgenders into the mainstream giving them freedom to lead their lives as equals.

Lest Dorothy is construed more as a documentary on the trials and travails of other genders by the general audience, Karthik Subbaraj ensures he rides his Dorothy on twin tracks. The film’s first half brims with proverbial commercial claptrap elements – violence and viewing women as society’s inferiors through the prism of machoism in the name of depicting the modern day lexicon in cinema circles “toxic masculinity perpetuated by films like Animal, Arjun Reddy & Toxic: A Fairy Tale For The Grown-ups.”

The vituperative and venomous whistling misogynist Veeraiah the very epitome of it. A violent, animalistic fiend Subbu who takes it upon himself to ‘make a man’ of Karthik. While the wimpy, weeping sissy Karthik watches and digests what being in the ‘world of men’ and actual ‘manhood’ means.

Thereafter, the film, makes a course correction, taking a more serious turn to finally focus on the familiar thematic template of again today’s art house cinema circles– focusing on the marginalised transgender sections of society and their trials and tribulations to gain acceptance of their gender identity.

If the film’s first half’s masochistic mass enticing masala is, one could suppose, is consciously done to ensure the film’s moolah raking prospects, the second half makes it doubly sure that the film, if passes muster with jury, will ensure itself a National Award for Best Regional Film – Tamil.

Given that every second film on the world cinemas horizon invariably addresses the issue of LGBTQ, it is no wonder we witness Karthik Subbaraj too tackling the theme of transgender and vigorously trying to normalise trans identity with the viewers.

So much so, before the film’s end credit roll making a cogent case for normalisation of queers, through dance, rituals, marriage, songs and the way of lives of transgenders and how they are discriminated against prodding people to shed looking at the community from the narrow prism of ‘othering’ and deeming them as a ‘blot on society.’

The twist in the tale though is how the otherwise the very person (Subbu) who boasted and bragged about machoistic bravado, taking it upon himself to tutor and turn Karthi into ‘manhood’ surreptitiously is a cross dresser embracing his true feminine form.

In turn, Karthi, ordained to finish off Subbu, too conveniently realises his own inner awakenings and ultimately treks to the temple where Subbu is being anointed as Dorothy into the trans society, too gives in to his true feeling towards bosom buddy Karthi nee now baptised Dorothy as the two kiss and make up conjoining into a new companionship.

Indeed, as Karthik Subbaraj’s monumental homily driven Dorothy, which starts off with the line “long, gruelling journeys began with Friendship” ends with the closing credit lines of “long, gruelling journeys end with Love,” one only wishes to exclaim in exasperation oh kadavule (Oh! God!), like an audience reviewer puts it so succinctly: “Aiyyo director saaar please stop preaching (This is nature. You are god’s special creation. This isn’t disgusting. This is a different kind of beauty. Why cry? Why hide? Women should never cry) and just show” and gives us an agenda free film to forget our lives’ blues for a few hours in the darkened theatres.