By Vijay Raju
Indian cinema has finally arrived through this film. The oneliner — In the era of globalization, two slum kids who are from a family, that is struggling to make ends meet in its most basic form, aspire to eat pizza and whether they were able to get a pizza is told in such a pure, convincing and soulful manner. I live in Switzerland and have two kids. My son, while watching the film, asked me ‘Appa, Can we live in this place (referring to the slum where the kids live)? They have everything — dog, goats and everything’. The paradox is that a kid living in Switzerland aspires to live that life and happiness for kids doesn’t reside in ipads, computer games etc. This is the success of the film. The other success is the guilty feeling that crept inside me because of the realization that there are millions of kids and people who cannot afford things like pizza and that I have never even once thought of getting a pizza for kids like them.
The film showed a world that looks dirty but the people there make the world so beautiful. A plastic toy watch in a waste collection shop gives so much happiness to the lead character, the kids use a polythene bag to fetch water so that their grandmother can take bath, a coke pet bottle is cut and used as a lamp shade — things that we take for granted are luxury for these kids and for the people living there.
Once the kids aspire to eat the pizza, the journey towards getting there has some magical moments. Some of the most remarkable scenes are
- The grandmother tries to replicate the ‘pizza’ for her grandsons using dosa mix and the kids happily support the process only to realize that the output doesn’t look like the pizza they have been aspiring for. It was a magical scene.
- The scene when the gate keeper of the pizza shop doesn’t allow the kids to enter the shop that makes the kids realize that money alone is not sufficient. This is a remarkable scene as it exposes the inequality for the kids and make them realize that the society is not equal.
- The scene in which Pazharasam, the railway worker opens the coal warehouse so that the kids can take the coal and sell it to make money for the pizza. One of the kids ask Pazharasam, ‘Are we stealing?’ to which Pazharasam replies ‘We are taking’. We can call it corruption but we know where is stems from.
- The scenes in which the kids meet another kid who live in an upscale locality who shows them things that these kids have never imagined in their lives which include a dog that costs 25,000 rupees. There is a fencing between them and in a way, it resembles a zoo. These kids seem to live in a forest whereas the kid who lives in the upscale locality seem to live in a zoo.
- The scene in which two rich kids ask their father for panipuri and complain that they are getting shirts that they never wanted. In contrast, the kids get so much love and affection from their grandma and mother who try to give what the kids want — While the globalized world gets ipad and pizzas for their kids and things that the kids don’t want, the movie shows how these marginalized people give love and affection that is priceless.
The kids finally manage to save enough money, get good clothes and go to the pizza shop but the manager of the shop slaps the boy and sends him out. The kids leave puzzled not understanding why they weren’t let inside the shop and the rest of the movie shows how the ‘low income’ society counters the ‘high income’ society to deal with the inequality using some of the after effects of a globalized world — video in a cellphone, media frenzy to cover the news and how local politicians exploit the gap between these two societies etc. In a way, it is a conflict between the postive and negative effects of a globalized world.
Director N.Manikandan is the HERO of this film and he ensures simplicity from the start to the end which is the most difficult thing to do. The two kids make it so real for the audience through their effortless acting and Aishwarya Rajesh, as the mother of the kids, delivers a stunning performance. The characters and the cast bring the ‘authentic feel’ to the film and all the technicians played a stellar role in ensuring that the soul of the film is retained. Special credit needs to be given to the Art Director for showing a slum world in its original form and especially, for the mood that he created in the scene where the dead grandmother is kept outside the house.
It is a journey that helps us to understand many ‘why’ questions through the eyes of the kids. When I was a small kid, I used to look at the western travelers who visit my city and wonder ‘What have they done differently except being born in another country to deserve such a high quality life?’. Inequality is the root of all conflicts and this movie shows us how inequality enters a child’s world.
The last 20 years has been a golden period for Tamil cinema. The audience in Tamil Nadu have grown to evaluate a movie through the strength of the storytelling than through the good looks of the lead actors. The credit must go to legends like Kamalhassan, Ilayaraja, AR Rahman, Maniratnam, PC Sreeram who showed what is possible all through the years. The current generation of outstanding directors like Mysskin, Balaji Sakthivel, Bala, Amir, Vetrimaran, Sasikumar, Gautam Menon and actors like Dhanush & Vikram have taken it to a new level through films like Subramaniapuram, Pisasu, Onaayum Aatukuttiyum, Aadukalam, Paruthi Veeran, Vazhakku Enn, Sethu, Pithamagan, VTV etc. Director Manikandan has elevated Tamil Cinema, hence Indian cinema, to a level where Hollywood is no more a benchmark but rather Indian movies will become the new benchmark for global film makers. Hats off!
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