Movie Review : The Great Indian Kitchen

Rating : 4.5/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2021
Running time : 1 hour 40 minutes
Director : Jeo Baby
Cast : Nimisha Sajayan, Suraj Venjaramoodu
Kidwise : PG

The Great Indian Kitchen is not a loving ode to Indian cooking or culture; quite the reverse. The title is satirical, because this Malayalam film is about the well-cloaked misogyny in Indian culture.

Our heroine, referenced to as The Wife, (Nimisha Sajan, whom we saw in Eeda) gets married into a prestigious family via the well-worn arranged marriage route. The joint family setup consists of her parents-in-law and her husband, all of whom are pleasant and loving. The Wife, like the dutiful daughter-in-law helps her mother-in-law with household tasks. The mother-in-law slaves from morning to night making the meals just so, doing the washing and cleaning so her husband will be pleased, and retiring at night after cleaning up the kitchen, when she and The Wife sit at the dining table (the men have eaten and are long gone) and finish their meals. When one day, the mother-in-law goes to her pregnant daughter’s house to help her with the impending delivery, The Wife is left to shoulder this burden alone.

World over women are assumed to be the implicit homemakers and care-givers. In desi culture this is true ten times over, as is shown in this film. The mother-in-law only cooks rice over the wood fire, instead of in the pressure cooker, because the husband says it tastes better. His clothes don’t seem clean from the washing machine so they must be hand-washed. And on and on and on. Of course he doesn’t have to do any of these tasks. She not only does these, but also fetches and carries for him, always at his beck and call. 

Such edicts are familiar refrains. I’d seen exhortations on the web to not use non-stick pans because of the “hidden dangers” and while that may/may not be true, the advice probably came from someone who doesn’t have to cook and clean everyday. If we were to all quit the machines that make our tasks – the drudgery of repeated, energy-consuming tasks – easier, women would probably spend all their time captive in their kitchens and homes, barefoot and pregnant. Sorta like the women in this film.

This film does a fantastic job of showing us how women are trapped within the home, sans independence or support by using dulcet tones and “culture” to support the case. The edict is always a gently worded request to cook this or that, this way or that way, because well wouldn’t you (i.e.; a good woman) do that for someone you love? Other similar “advice” is given, because it is in The Wife’s best interests, or to uphold family prestige. It is a high bar to be a good (Indian) woman.

The impact of the film is felt so strongly because the director takes the time to show us in long, lingering shots of what the men and the women are doing, during the same time period. There are 2 women in this home, and there are 2 men. In the morning, the women are up early to start their chores while the men get their tea and breakfast handed to them while they dawdle at the dining table. The women continue with this chore or that chore (and there is so much to be done) while the men spend their time doing yoga, reading or simply relaxing with tea on the porch. They also leave the home in their cars, while the women continue to still slave over their chores, sans help.

And I found this aspect very surprising – this well-to-do family with a nice home and car(s) has no household help, unless one of the women of the household is sick or on her period, and during the time of the month is relegated to a spartan room of the house, almost as an untouchable, sans any comforts. The sexism, misogyny and patriarchy are on full display here, and we can’t look away.

I love that this film doesn’t force-feed you an opinion – it just presents the circumstances to you, in excruciating detail, and lets you judge for yourself. It is so effectively a mirror to society because the villains in this film aren’t loud or violent – they are regular folk, like us. I’m also quite amazed that director Jeo Baby has managed to get the female perspective so spot on! The actors are fantastic too – Sajayan embodies her character with seeming ease while Suraj manages to make her misogynist husband seem like such an affable every-man!

This movie is an absolute must-watch! If you see one film this year, let it be this one.

Kidwise: Clean. Some sexual situations, but not tawdry or explicit.