What if Jesus returns?

Nenjam Marapathilai (நெஞ்சம் மறப்பதில்லை, The heart never forgets; Tamil; 2021)
Story and Director: Selvaraghavan

This film may not resonate with the average Kollywood movie-goer. It is supposed a thriller, a ghost story with corpses, gore and blood, but it is plentiful with hidden messages and symbolism. It is for the viewers to connect the dots and draw their own conclusions.

A casual viewer would surmise the whole offering as a poorly made horror flick with poor VFX about an orphan, Mariam, from a Church taking up a childminder's job in a dysfunctional family. The man of the house is a two-faced eccentric tyrant, Ramasamy @ Ramsay. He is married to his bosses' daughter and is under her thumb. He appears to courteous to everyone, but beneath his pleasant demeanour, evil lurks. 

Long story short, the minder is gang-raped by Ramsay and his servants, killed and buried in the large home compound. Mariam comes back as a spirit to avenge her bizarre death.

In an interview, the director, who also wrote the story, asserts that it is a good versus evil story. In the form of a servant, Jesus comes to Earth to fight Satan, who is in the form of Ramsay. Along the way, the iconic representations of biblical events - Jesus carrying the Cross, Mary with infant Jesus, fish, bread, representation of angels and many more.

From the dialogue, one can make out the story takes a whack on the whole of human civilisation; Indian culture of needing the safeguard reputation, turning a blind eye to injustice, blatant disregard to decency, class discrimination and more. It seems that evil is more prevalent than good. People in power dictate terms, and the weak follow blindly without agency. The agency bestowed with the responsibility of upholding justice is flawed and corrupt. People can get away with murder and joke about it. Maintaining prestige and social stigma are more valuable than human lives. Money can buy everything, even love and care.

The dialogue gives a sense of deja vu. Then it hits you. There are plenty of references to dialogues from Sivaji Ganesan's movies. There is even a song from one of the movies he acted in -' Enga Mama' -'Chelakkiligalam Palliley'. The message the writer probably conveys is that the devil wears Prada and appears suave as well charitable. However, political leaders are not altruistic, there are only worried about the next elections' result and dancing to the party line's tune.

What I want to know is why Ramsay, aka Satan himself, is portrayed in a Hindu home where Durga Devi Stotram is heard in the background? Is there another veiled message there? Ramsay is the contraction of Ramasamy - Lord Rama!

This director has a penchant for naming his movie after pre-existing ones. Actually, in 1963, legendary filmmaker C V Sridhar directed 'Nenjam Marapathilai'. If the former was about unfulfilled love and reincarnation, the latter, in a way, is about the same. Jesus coming back to Earth to resolve an unsettled score. But then, reincarnation in Christianity? The scriptwriter would probably invoke their creative licences to squeeze more creative juices. And Jesus in the form of a lady?

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