‘The Great Indian Kitchen’ movie review: A necessary remake to show patriarchy its place

Aishwarya Rajesh and Rahul Ravindran in ‘The Nice Indian Kitchen’
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

“ Samaikka pudikuma (Do you want cooking?),” he asks her. “ Samaika teriyum (I understand how to prepare dinner),” she says matter-of-factly, and he retorts in jest, “ Enakku saapida pudikkum (I wish to eat).”

This light-hearted dialog takes place the primary time Rahul Ravindran and Aishwarya Rajesh, the 2 leads of the most recent Tamil movie The Nice Indian Kitchen, meet. They subsequently marryand the visuals of the marriage look nice and vibrant, resembling virtually nothing that ensues within the lifetime of the bride put up the ceremony.

And this isn’t to say one thing horrible occurs to her, prefer it occurs in some movies. Life modifications, and that’s as horrible as it will possibly get.

On this Tamil remake of the acclaimed Malayalam movie of the identical identify, the sameness and dullness related to cooking performs out on loop. Aishwarya Rajesh wakes up and goes to the kitchen, does her chores, prepares meals for the day and cleans the utensils: in one other industrial movie, this could be the topic of some seconds, however on this scarily-real portrayal of how life modifications for ladies put up marriage, it types bulk of the 95-minute runtime.

Watching enjoyable cooking movies on Instagram and wish to check out some new recipes? Watch The Nice Indian Kitchen to get a sensible model of how that culinary train may really pan out; in truth, through the one event when the lads in the home resolve to prepare dinner, that’s precisely what occurs.

The movie makes some pertinent factors about patriarchy and the way a couple of males deal with the ladies of their family, particularly throughout robust instances. This Kannan-directed Tamil model is however a cultured model of the identical dish that the Malayalam authentic, starring Nimisha Sajayan and Suraj Venjaramoodu, dished up in 2021, thus sparking off dinner-table conversations on the position males play in family chores. Like the unique, this one too focusses on the odd to deliver out extraordinary emotion; the shot of leftover vegetable scraps clogging the kitchen sink, or the shot of the overflowing water faucet may not be visually pleasing to the attention, but it surely does fairly drive residence the purpose.

Just like the heap of trash piling up within the dustbin, Aishwarya Rajesh’s anger builds up too … and in that scene when it reaches its tipping level, Aishwarya is great. She seethes with rage, and we really feel that rage too, to a big extent.

Aishwarya Rajesh on the units of ‘The Nice Indian Kitchen’

What we don’t fairly really feel is the connection she shares along with her husband, performed by Rahul Ravindran. I want Kannan had supplied extra depth to this. There’s a uncommon second when she opens up — for the primary time — about his lack of desk manners. It should have sparked off some dialog, one thing to offer us an perception into their relationship, however that scene simply fizzes out with an offended husband strolling out of the room. There are few characters within the movie — it primarily revolves across the couple and the person’s father, performed by ‘Poster’ Nandhakumar — and even fewer places; the eating room and the kitchen are probably the most outstanding locales. Offering some type of distraction is Yogi Babu, who arrives unannounced someday, however his visitor position provides little worth to the proceedings.

The problem with The Nice Indian Kitchen is its one-sided method to the problem it takes up. Whereas issues felt pure within the Malayalam model, right here, in a couple of sequences, it feels pressured simply to drive residence the purpose. Having even one scene showcasing a misstep from Aishwarya or displaying atleast one optimistic sequence of Rahul may need helped steadiness issues out.

Having stated that, The Nice Indian Kitchen is a really mandatory movie. Regardless that the Malayalam authentic was consumed by a big viewers on OTT platforms, a Tamil model may attain its intent to a more recent set of audiences — and that’s greater than sufficient to make current-day practitioners of patriarchy sit up and take notice.