A recent release from the Kollywood stable titled Annapoorani has evoked mixed reactions among the public – some praise it for its story, but the majority of the reactions come from a section of the community that has been shown in poor light in the film. 

Wondering which community it might be, well, it takes no effort to understand which community in Tamil Nadu is the favourite punching bag – yes, it is the Tamil Brahmin community and no other. 

From being depicted incorrectly to demonising them to showing them as greedy and whatnot, the Kollywood industry aptly supported by the Dravidian ideology has ensured the villification of the Brahmin community in the state continues irrespective of who is in power. 

Said to be inspired by a Chinese film called Cupid’s Kitchen, this film uses the same formula. A food-themed story, boy meets girl, bashes Brahmins through the story. However, this one includes the theme of a Hindu Brahmin girl falling for a Muslim boy, enter Love Jihad! The perfect recipe for the year and this era.

The teaser

The teaser trailer did ensure that the majority of the community bashed in the film would not watch it upon its release; many were disgusted by the type of storyline the film had to offer. 

Immediately after the teaser’s release, “positive” reviews were planted in the media. Here’s one:

The film’s theme

The central theme of the film was food. Using an “orthodox” Brahmin as the heroine’s character made the perfect formula for the story. Someone who never ate non-vegetarian food was craving meat secretly.

Here’s how the story goes. A rebel Tamil Brahmin girl lies to her orthodox family that she’s pursuing an MBA but goes to cooking class instead.

She finds a “peaceful” boyfriend there, who motivates her to learn to cook non-vegetarian food too. She secretly reads these recipes at home, hiding them inside the MBA book. She meets with a cooking accident due to the “conspiracy” of a jealous classmate, Kartik Kumar, and is admitted to the hospital, which reveals her MBA lie to her family. Her orthodox family ostracises her, but the beacon of hope, played by Dravidian ideology supporter Satyaraj, becomes her mentor and convinces her to pursue her dreams by contesting in a mega cookery show. Then, you can create the rest of the story in your mind – that will fit perfectly with the Dravidian narrative.

Even more interesting was the review written in leftist mouthpiece The News Minute. The heroine, they say, is a “dominant caste Brahmin woman.” In Tamil Nadu, Brahmins have never been the dominant caste. Even today, they constitute less than 3% of the total population in the state. But just like they always do, TNM ensures Brahmins are mentioned by their caste while other castes are not. Muslims are not mentioned; Hindus are mentioned as caste Hindus if the report is about some alleged caste-violence.

And guess what, to insinuate Hindus and Brahmins alike, the review says the story involves the heroine contemplating cooking a beef dish. Wow, perfect! TNM loves the film as it does “fairly well on gender quotient.” However, “caste and religious politics are played safe.” It must be highly irritating, right?

Mistakes in the film/trailer

The girl is shown to be from an orthodox Iyengar family – the father and mother have the Vaishnavite markings on the forehead.

The family is shown to reside in Srirangam, the heartland of Iyengars, and no family from this fold will name their girl children Annapoorani. They prefer to name their girl children after Lakshmi Devi. 

The orthodox father is showing his back to the puja room when doing Sandhyavandana. The way the ritual is done is also questionable.

The mother brings the aarathi to the girl in her bedroom. She takes it, sitting on her bed. No Hindu does that. 

While the mother and father have Vaishnavite marks on their foreheads, the daughter wears vibhuti! 

Other unnecessary inclusions

The angle of love jihad – the orthodox Tambram girl growing up in an agraharam falls in love with a Muslim boy and also dons the burkha in the film while also doing namaz! 

Here are some reactions from the public

While some fans shared videos of shows going unbooked in theatres, others mocked the storyline for being predictable and boring and complained that they were not showing anything new but just the same old formula – old wine in a new bottle.

Reviews

Here is a detailed review of the story.

This is not a new thing in Tamil Nadu or Kollywood; it has been the trend for quite a few decades now; several hit films have showcased Brahmins in TN in poor light. Among the more famous ones are by director and actor Bhagyaraj (who married a Brahmin co-star), renowned for demeaning Brahmins in almost all his films.

In this video, Bhagyaraj explains how he made Balakumaran, who was anxious for a movie chance as a “director” because he was a Brahmin. He says, “The story and dialogues for the film Idhu Namma Aalu were done, and when deciding who to give the director hat to, Balakumaran was looking for a chance at that time. He was upset he did not get a proper chance to show his skill. I gave him a chance, but he missed it and was very upset about it. So I called him back and asked him to direct this film. Since this was a subject related to Brahmins and since he was also a Brahmin, when I was acting out a scene or saying the dialogues, he could help me with it. So I asked him to do the direction for the film. So I gave him the chance.”

The other is failed politician Kamal Haasan. In the film Vishwaroopam, he asks his student, a Brahmin girl played by Andrea Jeremiah, to taste the chicken as she is the expert. She does eat the food in the later scene. 

Kollywood, a.k.a. the Tamil film industry, has been highly instrumental in spreading the narrative set by the Dravidianists. By use of narration and storytelling, they managed to demonise an entire community making them the butt of all jokes in almost every film produced in the state. The trend continues to date and has been enabled by people from and outside the Brahmin community.