A thing well done is worth doing!

Annapoorani (Tamil, 2023)
Writer-Director: Nilesh Krishna

Some flashbacks from my childhood. You go to the Indian barber. He has an opinion on everything. He proudly boasts that everyone bows down at his command, and he has his clientele by the throat. Sure, people do that when they need a haircut or a shave. What he gets is insider information from the horse's mouth.

Then you go to your neighbourhood 'teh tarik' joint. Again, the shop owner knew everything. He knew about last night's football results, why Malaysia failed miserably, about inner dark secrets about Malaysian cabinet ministers, you name it.

These two people knew everything: how to run the country, how to schedule garbage collection, and even how to win an election. One thing neither can do is what they set up shop for, to cut hairstyles that they claim to be able to do and make a decent tea respectively.

A thing well done is worth doing.

When my OTT algorithm suggested the above movie for viewing, I gave it a pass. The idea of an Indian Master Chef did not excite me. Reading the summary, I could predict the storyline. Brahmin girl, vegetarian, daughter of a temple priest going rogue, savouring non-vegetarian food, upsetting family and proving everyone wrong by swimming against the currents and sharks.

Talk about the Streisand effect. The movie hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. A complaint was raised in Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh against its filmmakers for hurting religious sentiments and promoting love jihad. I had to watch it.

Two scenes in the film were a concern for the complainants.

The aspiring chef grew up enjoying the aroma whiffed from stalls selling non-vegetarian food. When she takes up cooking in school, she breaks her vegetarianism to make the best biryani. Trying to justify her meat consumption, somebody mentions that even Lord Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, hunted for his meals during his 14-year exile, as written by Valmiki in Ramayana.

Her love interest is a Muslim who positively (or negatively, pick a choice) influences her in her setbacks and endeavours.

Surprisingly, nobody raised any alarm seeing this same Brahmin girl donning a hijab and bowing deep in Islamic prayers before starting the seminal dish that finally won her the coveted 'Best Indian Chef' award.

The complainants allege that the film's release timing is carefully curated to coincide with the inauguration of Ayodhya Ram Mandhir on 22nd January 2024.

Annapoorani is the Goddess of food and nourishment. She is the manifestation of Parvati. After going through multiple famines throughout their existence, Hindus realise that food is sacred. Offering food during auspicious functions is revered and is assumed to be blessed by Goddess Annapoorani. And we know how critical sattvik diets play in Ayurveda and Hinduism. It also includes the concept of ahimsa (not harming living beings) in it.

So, to cast a Brahmanic priest who gave up all the lure of a high-paying job to become a cook at a temple in Srirangam, to serve Lord Vishnu and to have a daughter to break the mould to dig into chicken biryani and offer namaz is in poor taste. Perhaps the makers should have been more sensitive. Imagine if it were a Muslim and it involved haram stuff; all hell would break loose.

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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.