Tamil cinema’s de-facto heroine is the “loosu ponnu” (literally "crazy girl"), a home-grown variant of the manic pixie. Her utter lack of street smarts, her irrepressible sprightliness, and her propensity to endanger her own life are just some of the qualities that instantly endear her to the hero and audiences alike.

She has lots of free time, zero professional ambition, easily detachable ties with her family, and unquestioning devotion to the hero once she falls for him. In short, an adolescent male’s wet dream brought to life.

Her cuteness is directly proportional to how insane or incredible her actions are: talking to trees (Ninaithen Vandhai), being too terrified to cross a road (Paayum Puli), climbing onto the back of conmen (Pithamagan), casually electrocuting others (Alli Thandha Vaanam), headbutting strangers to avoid sprouting horns (Santhosh Subramaniam), falling in love for the hardest slap (Kaththi), bottle-feeding goats and imitating scarecrows (Mudhalvan), attempting suicide in full make-up when a pet dog goes missing (Sura), or conversing with clouds and counting raindrops (Mazhai, Thirunaal).

Never mind that you cannot meet a single woman resembling this wide-eyed, extraterrestrial being on the streets of Tamil Nadu.



