ALERT: This review contains spoilers!!!
The patriarchal society we live in has an obsolete notion that women belong to the kitchen. But it’s always a matter of awe when someone finds loopholes in the system and breaks the ordeals apart. The Great Indian Kitchen is an ambiguous title, as one might conceive this to be a film that portrays the overpowering emotions on food and culture of Kerala. Although the film showcases the exquisite cuisines of Kerala, it adds an extreme colour of patriarchy to the concoction. It puts forth the stereotypical mindset of the so-called masculine, privileged men in our societies. It exposes the predicaments of a woman who sailed through the trials and tribulations of the vicious loop that trap her in the ordeals of male chauvinism.
Jeo Baby’s TGIK, a Malayalam movie, starring Nimisha Sajayan and Suraj Venjaramoodu in lead roles, is not unique in its genre but stands out to be a movie that blatantly exposes the true reality of the deep-rooted patriarchy in our society as realistically as possible. Weirdly, we might not discern in the angst of the tensions the film delivers that the characters do not possess any name.
The story starts with the portrayal of Nimisha as a glaring dancer. It is evident from her smile that dancing liberates her inner self and gives her a scintillating ecstasy. The film quickly moves on to her marriage with Suraj and the traditions that follow a normal Kerala wedding. At first, the strenuous efforts Nimisha puts to appease her in-laws are quite normal to our eyes, as these are normalised as gestures to adapt to her new home. The tensions arise when Suraj’s mother goes away to visit and look after her pregnant daughter. Here begin the trials and tribulations of Nimisha grappling with the daily kitchen chores.
The film deliberately creates lags in the scenes revolving around the kitchen and her bedroom. It serves as an eye-opener to the oppressed women who experience the trauma of being subservient to men. She toils around the kitchen, while the men of her family enjoy their leisure time scrolling on their mobile phones. Some scenes were deliberate attempts to engross us in her monotonous life in the kitchen. Her post-married life revolves around the kitchen and her bedroom. She had to prepare food and then serve it. It was very depressing to see her clean the table where she had to pick the licked drumsticks and other wastes. She even had to clean their plates. Apart from these chores, there was a hole in the pipeline which her husband never bothered to mend. Her disgusting and miserable life in that cage, embellished by male dominance, evoked sympathy and support from the audience.
One might find the concept of menstruation in this film anachronistic too. Nimisha scuffles around with agony as she is not allowed to enter the kitchen or even touch the appliances. When asked to move from her bedroom to a room in the backyard because her husband was going on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala, she felt drained. While watching this, I remembered a friend of mine who had never got to leave her backyard room during her periods. She was indifferent and calm while she explained the tormenting ritual of women being alienated by her family and never allowing them to go out of their boundaries. This literally came as a surprise to me.
Jeo Baby creates an environment of conflicting ideologies in the Sabarimala issue under the pretext of Nimisha’s predicament. The Sabarimala verdict was vaguely made a part of Nimisha’s realization of her plight and finding a way to break the shackles of patriarchy within her. The vibrant and iconic scene where she transcends the gate of patriarchy and flees with liberty and independence to a progressive future ahead was exhilarating to watch. A few shots wherein she passes the pathway between the road and the sea will send shivers down your spine. Beach, being the symbol of liberation and independence, perfectly fits the aura and the elements of different shades of liberation. The “Chilling effect” of her yelling at her brother to fetch water by himself was a cacophony of the pain she endured during her excruciating hardship.
Nimisha got a great ending and her being a dance teacher added a drop of glory to all of it. There continue the ordeals at Suraj’s house as he marries again and we see the wife getting impressed by the charm and masculinity once admired by Nimisha. This was the last shot in the movie and was immensely jarring and acrimonious to watch, as it is the irony of it all. In a nutshell, TGIK is a must-watch movie that connects two intertwined factors of kitchen politics on a loop.