Crash course on Avatars!

Mahavatar Narsimha (Hindi, 2025)
Director: Ashwin Kumar

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34365591/

Growing up in the 1970s, the only way to learn about stories from Hindu mythology was through stories told by elders or in satsangs (religious gatherings). Later, we were introduced to Amar Chitra Katha comics, which were quite a hit among us, the children. We essentially heard most of our Hindu fables from these colourful books. Anything that came close to a TV production was an anime movie that came out, as an Indo-Japanese joint production, as 'Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama' in 1993.

Currently, a plan is underway to develop a Mahavtar Cinematic Universe, comprising seven films based on Hindu mythology, over a span of twelve years (2025 to 2037). Given the quality of this project, I am confident that in the years to come, we will be immersed in a cinematic wonderland.

 

The filmmakers decided to start by depicting Vishnu's most fierce avatars. The half-lion, half-human Vishnu is His most combative form. 

Directly or indirectly, we are aware that Vishnu, as the protector of the world, assumes various forms to restore order when chaos (adharma) prevails. All in all, He had taken nine forms thus far (in this yuga), with one more to go at the end of times, Kalki Avatar. He is duty-bound to fight evil and must do so cyclically, as time progresses in cycles, with fission-explosion-entropy succession. 

There is also a subtle reference to the Avatars in evolution. The first Avatar is Matsya, in the form of a fish, who protects the people on Earth and their knowledge from a mammoth flood reminiscent of Noah's Ark and the preservation of species. Now, one may wonder why this motif of the great flood appears in many cultures. In the Zoroastrian tradition, Gilgamesh is also credited with saving humankind from floods. 

As life evolved from being sea-dwelling creatures and became land dwellers, so did Vishnu's avatar. It is said that Vishnu assumed the role of Kurma, a tortoise form, to help in the churning of the Universe to extract the elixir of immortality and other benefactors in a deathly duel between the Asuras and Devas. This event is immortalised sculpturally in the Swarna Bhoomi Airport in Bangkok. 

The third and fourth Avatars, Varaha and Narasimha, are featured in this animated offering. 

Back to avatars and evolution, Varaha is depicted as a wild boar, said to be one of the most sturdy herbivores adapted to land-based living. Despite being a herbivore, it can be a ferocious beast with rudimentary tasks and muscular limbs. In this juncture, life has firmly grounded itself on land. 

In the movie, a pair of twins, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyashipu, were born. They were Asuras because their mother was from the Asura lineage. Asuras do not automatically infer that they are bad, but rather the general narrative in the Vedic scriptures, over the ages, has transformed to mean so. Because they conceived at an inauspicious time, because their mother, Diti, felt horny, and despite her husband Kasyap's warning, they succumbed to lust. Thus, two of the nastiest Asura of the celestial levels were born. 

On a side note, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, the twins, were the reincarnations of Jaya and Vijaya, once the gatekeepers of Vishnu's abode, Vaikundam. Jaya and Vijaya were cursed by Brahma's sons for not allowing them to enter Vaikundam. Vishnu could not cancel the curse, but gave them two options. The first option is to be reborn seven times as a Vishnu bhakta (follower) or, alternatively, as an anti-Vishnu for three births. They chose the latter. Hence, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were their first births. The next two are from Rama's era (as Ravana and Kumbakarna) and Krishna's era (as Shishupala and Dantavakra).

Hiranyaksha decided to submerge Earth into the cosmic ocean. Vishnu, as Varaha, fought Hiranyaksha and scooped up Earth, as Bhumidevi, the female personification of Mother Earth, with it. Now, here is the interesting observation that some Hindu scholars agree on. Some of the ancient sculptures of Varaha, erected for worship, depict the Earth as a spherical object. This means that the Indians were aware of Earth's appearance. It is not surprising, as the likes of Aryabhatta had already made gigantic steps in the field of astronomy by the 5th century CE.

After Hiranyaksha's demise, his twin Hiranyakashipu went into intense penance, worshipping Brahma for his boon. Now, Hindu supreme powers are usually quite generous with their wishes. The important lesson in any story where wishes are granted is that the requester must be extremely careful and precise in their requests. So when Brahma did eventually manifest and was willing to grant his wishes, Hiranyakashipu made his request-not to die at the hands of any of Brahma's creation, not to die inside a residence or outside, neither during day nor night, not to be killed by any weapon, human, animal, demigod or serpent. He should not be killed by anyone born of a woman, whilst having supreme power over all living beings. He is bestowed the boon.

The Universe had something up its sleeve. Hiranyakashipu's pregnant wife was kidnapped by the lustful God of the Skies, Indra. He was intercepted by the celestial sage, Narada, who took the pregnant mother under his care. The unborn child grew up exposed to songs praising Vishnu, to the extent that the child, Prahlada, became a devoted devotee of Vishnu.

Trouble brewed when the father, Hiranyakashipu, tried to market himself as a true god to his subjects. The recalcitrant Prahlada continued singing praises to Lord Vishnu, much to his father's chagrin. The son was punished again and again, only to be miraculously saved. At the point of reckoning, when told to show the might of Vishnu, the Lord appeared from the walls of a pillar, in a corridor, at twilight, to be mauled by a half-animal, half-man Narasimha, with His bare claws, without any weapons, keeping within the terms of his boon. 

The computer graphics are excellent. Similarly, the choices of colour, background score, storytelling, and continuity are also captivating. After the near demise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in Hollywood, the Mahavatar Cinematic Universe is here to take over where it left off. 

The story of evolution continues with human avatars of variable intellectual capacity, such as Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna or Buddha. Kalki will appear at the end of times.

P.S. In future, when you find yourself stuck with a genie in a situation where you are granted three wishes, be wise. Ask for a wish where you never run out of wishes!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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The hidden hand

Burn! (Queimada; 1969)

Director: Gillo Pontocorvo

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064866/

The legendary Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan mentioned in a local interview that Marlon Brando was the Hollywood actor he admired most professionally. He had previously had a one-to-one meeting with Marlon Brando in 1962 when the Screen Actors' Guild and the American Embassy invited him for a two-month tour as a cultural ambassador. He was introduced to Brando during the shooting of 'The Ugly American' as 'one of the greatest actors from India'. There are unverified reports quoting Brando as saying that 'Sivaji can act like me, but I cannot act like him' (as quoted from the then CM of Tamil Nadu, Annadurai). It was during this tour that Sivaji was presented with the key to the City of Niagara and was unceremoniously elected as the Mayor for a day. 

Marlon Brando began his promising career positively, earning praise with films like 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (1951) and 'On the Waterfront' (1954). His films did not perform particularly well in the early 1960s. 'Burn!', however, remains Brando's favourite. It is also the favourite of many historians who praise it as an accurate depiction of the colonists' modus operandi in the regions, claiming that they bring civilisation and modernisation; in reality, it is all about business. 

Sivaji Ganesan & Marlon Brando (1962)

This story reflects real events across many nations. Historians say that the story of 'Burn!' bears resemblance to what happened to some of the smaller islands in the Caribbean. Fun fact - there was a time in our history when Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Haiti were the jewels of the New World that Columbus discovered. Haiti (then known as Saint-Monique) was the most profitable colony in the Americas, with sugar and coffee as its leading exports. They were more vibrant than the United States.

With fertile land, sunny weather, and a compliant population that could be manipulated to the whims of the colonial masters, every maritime nation raced to become their owners.

The fictional nation in this film may represent Quadelope, a location in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. It has a turbulent history, being tossed back and forth like a ball between Spanish, French, English, and even Swedish and Danish influences. Slave trading was a primary industry here. When slavery was abolished, bonded labourers were brought in from other colonies, such as South India. During the period depicted in this story, Quadelope was under Spanish rule. However, because the filmmakers did not want to offend the authoritarian Francisco Franco at the time of making the movie, they chose to portray the colonists as Portuguese instead. Today, Quadelope is a French Protectorate, part of the EU, and uses Euros as its currency.

The film vividly depicts how Western powers have long operated under the pretence of bringing development, modernity, and civilisation to the indigenous populations.
 

The island state of Queimada was colonised by the Portuguese, who enslaved the local population to work on the sugar cane plantations. In 1884, the British Crown sent Sir William Walker to survey the island. He encouraged the locals to rebel against the Portuguese. He succeeds in establishing a puppet government that is subordinate to a British company, which then takes control of the sugarcane plantations. 

Ten years later, Walker is deployed here to suppress rebel resistance. Walker, in modern terms, can be described as a provocateur, privateer, or pirate if he sailed the high seas. His mission is to deceive the local populace into supporting the covert operations of the greater powers. We saw that even during the Gulf War.

Walker now sees the same people who assist the British (i.e., the Plantation) as public enemy number one, since they are the ones helping the British defeat the Portuguese. Walker makes an emotional decision to try to help his old friend, who aided him in overthrowing the Portuguese, while still remaining loyal to his paymasters.

 

A similar instance of greed-driven interference in land acquisition occurred when colonial powers proposed building a canal at the Isthmus of Panama to reduce travel time between the East and West coasts of America.

 

A well-made movie that has stood the test of time. It has aged well, as what it depicts remains true to current reality. Nothing has really changed—perhaps the backdrop. They now wear branded suits and expensive watches. 7.5/10.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

On Nattukottai Chettiars...

Fortune Seekers: A Business History of the Nattukottai Chettiars
Author: Raman Mahadevan(2025)

The Chettys are believed to have been present in the Malay Peninsula as early as the 16th century in the history of the Malacca Empire, according to Portuguese writings, when they arrived on Malacca's shores. The community, known as Chetty or Chitty in Malacca, had its own distinctive way of life, integrating with the local population, establishing places of worship, and holding significant positions in the Sultanate. They are said to originate from the Coromandel (Eastern) Coast of India. Interestingly, their settlement is called 'Gajah Berang' — 'Angry Elephant' in Malay. This might also be a corruption of Kanchipuram's old name, Karca Pidam. Therefore, the Chittys could have originated from Kanchipuram rather than Nattukottai.

In many P Ramlee films, the character of a Chetty frequently appears as the stereotypical moneylender.

It has been said that much of the State lands belonging to the Sultans changed hands to the Chettys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One particular monarch, who was addicted to booze and gambling and a bad gambler too, lost much of his property by signing it away to obtain loans from Chettys to feed his gambling addiction. Usually, the loans were not repaid, leading to the lands being seized and taken over by the Chettys. Concerned local chiefs approached the British administrators, who proposed the Malay Reserve Land Code to preserve State lands for the Malays, that is, within the control of the Sultans, the protectors of Malay sovereignty.

Many groups within the Indian population are naturally entrepreneurial. These include the Mawaris, Khataris, Multani, Parsi, Baniar, Sindhi, Chetti, and many others. They possess sharp business skills and have an exceptional ability to foresee and grasp future economic trends.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/11/13/
ethnic-chetty-residents-want-more-effort-to-preserve-village

In my hometown, Penang, the Nattukottai Chettiars are renowned for organising the now world-famous annual three-day Thaipusam celebrations with chariot processions and hundreds of kavadi-bearing devotees. To support these events, they have built a large temple complex along Waterfall Road and a silver chariot to oversee the entire celebration. Historically, the Chettiars owned extensive land in Malaysia for much of the first half of the 20th century. However, following the unrest associated with communists (between 1948 and 1960) and the race riots in 1969 in the newly independent Malaya, the Chettiars chose to liquidate their assets and return lock, stock and barrel back to India.

The history of the Nattukottai Chettiars dates back to 2893 BC. By the late 19th century, they had established themselves around the princely State of Puthukottai in South India. They were also known as Nagarathars. The area they inhabited was not suitable for farming, so they evolved into a mercantile community and small local traders. The rule of the British Raj in India made doing business more difficult, leading the Chettiars to explore overseas opportunities for expanding their money-lending enterprise. 

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 radically changed global commerce. The plantation economy began to develop in colonies such as Ceylon, Burma, Indochina, and Malaya. The demand for credit surged, and the Chettiars stepped in to meet the need by lending to local planters in these regions. 

70% of all loans in Burma in 1930 were from Chettiars.
https://www.yangontimemachine.com/en/index?id=24&art=chettiar_temple

In Burma and Indochina, rice plantations expanded to meet global demand. Crops such as coffee, tea, and coconut were cultivated on a large scale in Ceylon. Rubber estates flourished in Malaya. Tin mining commenced in Malaya in the early 20th century. Chettiars prospered by doing what they did best—being moneylenders. Their primary activity was an intra-community banking system based on trust and risk-taking. Within the community, they established a support network to ensure that each member received assistance and that disputes between members were resolved internally, without resorting to legal action. Their intra-community bond was powerful. Sadly, the Nagarathars were not particularly friendly with the locals. It was all business. This proved to be an albatross around their neck when the Saya San rebellion broke out in Burma. 

The business was a roaring success for them until 1928, when the world faced the Great Depression. Some had cut their losses and returned home, while others bought large parcels of land when borrowers were unable to repay their loans. The Chettiars became major landowners.

Their businesses faced further difficulties when World War II broke out. The depreciation of local currencies and the switch to Japanese Banana money in Burma and Malaya resulted in overwhelming losses. In Burma, resistance manifested as regional nationalism, such as the Saya San Rebellion, and many of their properties were nationalised. Thousands of Chettiars had to flee on foot as refugees back to India.

Some Chettiars repatriated their capital to India. Many shifted to managing cotton mills, modern industries, education, and banking. A small number of them never recovered from their losses. Over-commitment to money lending and an unwillingness to diversify led to the collapse of their traditional business model.

By 1938, ~25% of Burma's rice-growing areas were in Chettiar hands.
https://www.yangontimemachine.com/en/index?id=24&art=chettiar_temple

Their apparent presence in the modern world, from 1870 onwards, throughout post-independent India, has left an indelible mark. A few figures have secured their place in Indian history.

There was Sir Annamalai Chettiar, an industrialist, banker, philanthropist, and educationist. He is immortalised in the university bearing his name. Another legendary Nattukottai Chettiar is Dr Alagappa Chettiar, one of the first in the community to study English and decide to read Law at the University of London. During his stint in the UK, he worked part-time in the banking sector and acquired a flying licence. Despite completing his course, he was refused permission to practise Law in the UK because he had contracted leprosy, which had slightly disfigured his face. He returned home to found Alagappa University and fund hospitals. Later, he founded Jupiter Airways, which played a crucial role in bringing refugees to India during the Partition. He was the youngest Indian to be knighted in 1946, but he voluntarily renounced the title after India's independence. Alagappa Chettiar's business portfolio included the acquisition of Ayer Manis Rubber Estate in Muar, Johor, in Malaya during the 1920s.

Then there was MCT Chidambaram Chettiar, the founder of Indian Overseas Bank. One of the survivors of the Burma ordeal is the group of AMM Murugappa Chettiar. He relocated to India and ventured into manufacturing cycles, steel tubes, ceramics, sugar, fertilisers, financial services, and more. The Murugappa Group has become a powerhouse of the Indian industry.

Karumuthu Thiagaraja Chettiar was another textile magnate, philanthropist, and supporter of the arts and Tamil language. He was a freedom fighter and a member of the Indian National Congress. This should not be confused with Sir Pitty Theagaraya Chettiar, another notable industrialist and a founding member of the Justice Party. The affluent neighbourhood of T. Nagar in Chennai is named after him. Pitty did not belong to the Nattukottai Chettiar community but to the Telugu-speaking Devanga Chetty community.

AV Meiyappa Chettiar is known for his AVM Studio, AVM Production House and his role as a doyen in Tamil cinema during its golden age.

In Malaysia, the average person might not fully appreciate the business savvy and close-knit qualities of the Nattukottai Chettiars. They might only learn about their black umbrellas, the ash spread on their foreheads, and their money-lending trades after watching several P Ramlee movies. One thing they would not overlook is the Chettinad eateries and their delicious cuisine, which can be found all over town.

(N.B. Over the last decade, a conspiracy has emerged regarding the Nattukottai Chettiar-managed silver chariot used during Penang's Thaipusam procession. It was alleged that the monies offered by the public do not go towards the uplift of Hindus or the maintenance of Hindu temples in Penang. The Chettiars were accused of siphoning off the collection to Chettinadu in Tamil Nadu. The Penang Hindu Endowment Board, in retaliation, introduced a golden chariot in direct competition with its silver counterpart.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In search of the Garden of Eden...

Eden (2024)
Director: Ron Howard

https://www.imdb.com/it/title/tt23149780/

This is another philosophical film. This time, it explores the formula for living life. Is it through inquiry, probing, and teasing out the best way to live based on collective thoughts, or by accepting that life is hard and meeting the challenges it throws at us? Or do we simply not care, embracing hedonism, indulging the senses, and enjoying as if there is no tomorrow? We have the choice of living like Plato, Sisyphus, or letting Dionysus be our guiding light.

While watching, I drew a parallel to 1966 Kollywood's 'Saraswathi Sabatham,' where the celestial troublemaker Narada incited the three goddesses of the Hindu pantheon—Parvathi, Lakshmi, and Saraswati—to quarrel among themselves. These three goddesses are said to govern courage, wealth, and knowledge, respectively. A turmoil ensued, with each goddess conferring her virtues onto subjects on Earth and testing them. Ultimately, it was concluded that no one virtue is more important than the others; man needs knowledge, wealth, and courage in equal measure to succeed.

Set between the two World Wars, the story begins with a disillusioned German civil servant, Heinz Wittmer, who arrives at the Galapagos Islands to start anew with his docile wife and their sickly son. Dr Frederick Ritter, another disillusioned soul dissatisfied with worldly pursuits, had previously settled there. He was a well-known figure in Germany through his writings and life experiences. Having abandoned his practice and modernity, he lives with his wife on the island, surviving through planting and hunting, with few necessities. Ritter and his wife are not pleased with the new arrival, fearing that soon the island will mirror the modern world they had left behind. They even suggested the most inhospitable place for them, hoping they would simply give up and return whence they came. Surprisingly, they persevere and survive through sheer hard work. 

Meanwhile, the island receives another unwanted guest. Baroness, a suspicious character with two lovers and a questionable past, arrives. She aims to construct a luxury hotel. She brings trouble along with her.

All three teams end up attempting to sabotage each other's efforts to reach their respective goals. Each believed their intentions were noble and justified, confident they would attain their ideal society. Yet, they failed to see the evil lurking within every individual. Ultimately, ego, greed, hubris, and the desire for power undermine their purported utopia. 

The Wittmer family of Floreana
https://happygringo.com/blog/the-galapagos-affair/

The question now to be answered is this: are humans so feeble-minded and weak that they need an objective code on how to live, or can they, through repeated trials and errors, find a common way to share their space here on Earth? Can utopia ever become reality? Will they ever find their Garden of Eden, or will they mess that up, too? Every utopian project carries the recurring risk of doom due to human frailties, stemming from the dormant reptilian mind that is waiting to be triggered by our primitive needs. 

No one mantra works all the time. One has to take a step back, reassess their progress and make amends. Sometimes these corrections may question the foundation of one's belief. For example, when his crops are invaded by wild boar and he is hungry, Dr Ritter, a self-proclaimed lifelong vegetarian, decides to barbecue a bull's head. 

(P.S. This is based on the real-life experiences of the Wittmer family, one of the pioneer white settlers of Floreana Island of Galapagos.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Of honour killings!

Aakrosh (Outrage, Hindi; 2010)

Director: Priyadarshan

https://sanjaymehta.me/2010/10/16/priyadarshans-aakrosh-with-
ajay-devgan-tight-and-powerful/

I thought honour killings and caste discrimination were a thing of the past. One would say the story behind the story was topical when this movie was made, when honour killing was a frequent occurrence, especially in northern India and the northwest region of the subcontinent. 

I remember reading about the time when EV Ramasamy visited Malaya back in the 1930s. He reminded the Tamil immigrant workers in Malaya to leave behind all the bad practices that they acquired from India. Caste, gender discrimination, superstition and fatalism should not be brought to their newfound land. He encouraged the Indian ladies to emulate the local ladies, don a sarong and be mobile. 

In the 21st century, we do not see caste playing a significant role in the day-to-day life of Malaysian Indians. On the sly, however, people may identify with the region their ancestors came from and their spoken language. Being in the minority, they lack the clout to influence major decisions in the country on a larger scale. Social media, instead of creating a borderless one world, only helped to subdivide them into small groups that scream to find how people are different from others.

This movie had so much promise when it cast some of the most money-spinning actors at that time, including Ajay Devgn, Vinod Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Paresh Pawar, and Reema Sen. The theme was something very current at the time. There was a flurry of killings of young people along the line of honour killings. 

It tells the tale of two CBI officers who were sent to a small town to investigate the disappearance of three medical students. The town is controlled by the local strongmen, who also work closely with the local policemen. They run it as if it were their own property. Cases are not investigated, and evidence is swept under the carpet to protect the crooks. One of the missing medical students was in love with the chief's daughter. As the boy was from a lower class, the father thought it befitting that he should be killed and the case be squashed.

Unfortunately, this film did not perform well at the box office despite the strong cast and gripping storyline. Probably the audience had seen too much corruption in the system to be awed. The theme of honour killing had already been in the headlines much too much to excite the general public. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The State has its responsibilities too?

Janaki V vs State of Kerala (J.S.K, Malayalam, 2024)

Written & Directed: Pravin Narayanan

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23458804/

I heard about this film even before its release. Thanks to the free publicity generated by its legal entanglements, even those least interested in watching the film found themselves eagerly awaiting its launch. Sometimes, one wondered whether these legal disputes were self-inflicted. With so many films being produced in India nowadays, without such spicy elements, some movies might simply go unnoticed. There are only so many hours in a day!

The main issue the complainants had with the film was its title. It was initially called 'Janaki vs State of Kerala'. In the story, the protagonist, Janaki, is raped. Therefore, naming a rape victim after the revered goddess Sita is disgraceful, according to the plaintiff. Janaki is another name for Sita, Lord Rama's consort and an avatar of Goddess Lakshmi. To make matters worse, the officer who helps her navigate an uncooperative police system and formalities is Muslim. The legal expert who carefully examines the facts to prove her innocence is Christian.

The courts considered their plea and chose to insert a 'V' after Janaki, the character's father's name, Vidhyadharan. That move soothed everyone. So simple.

Every Hindu has a name that may be linked to the 330 million gods in Hinduism. How can a person bestow a name without invoking any of the deities?

An IT professional visits her hometown to attend a religious festival. She is sexually assaulted by an unknown individual and cannot remember the incident because she was possibly drugged. When her father tries to report it to the police, he gets caught in a stampede at the station during a separate protest related to another case involving a Bishop. The evidence is inconsistent, suggesting a possible unseen influence from above. Janaki became pregnant, likely as a result of the interaction.

The film highlights a very relevant point. Law and order services are established in the country to protect its citizens. Citizens, through the democratic process, periodically elect their preferred government to maintain peace and order. When the State fails to provide the promised adequate protection to its people, is the Law responsible for addressing or fixing the consequences of their failure? Just as the State endeavours to defend the voiceless and marginalised when they are wronged.

Towards the latter part of the film, when her case finally reaches court, Janaki is already seven months pregnant. The perpetrator is eventually identified. Through her solicitor, she demands that the State of Kerala absolve her of all mental trauma and public humiliation of being an unwed mother, all due to their incompetence. She requests that her fetus be surgically removed and placed under the care of the State from the neonatal stage until the child reaches 18. The courts agreed, which I thought was quite far-fetched. But that is poetic justice for the masses.

P.S. In my twisted mind, I wonder. Just because the rapist turned out to be a lowly loafer who is a nobody, did Janaki demand the termination of the pregnancy? If he had been the son of a millionaire or someone with deep pockets, would she have decided to keep the baby? Just thinking.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.