Movie Mahal

Directed by newcomer Jaishankar Aryar, Shivamma is a Kannada village tale in which a naive middle-aged woman, Shivamma (Sharanamma Chetti), becomes seduced with a get-rich-quick scheme that involves flogging a dubious energy drink with perilous side effects. I’m not sure to what extent Aryar’s intentions were to pitch this as a darkly comical critique of neo-modernity but at times it certainly comes across as one. In using a cast of non-professional actors and many tenets of neorealism, the lines between fiction and non-fiction are blurred throughout. Since the documentary tradition has often flowed directly into neorealist filmmaking, the docudrama label is more apt in this context.

Research has shown the side effects with consuming energy drinks on a consistent basis and over a long period can have unsavoury side effects including heart failure. The culture of energy drinks is very prevalent today, part of a lucrative culture industry. In very little time, Shivamma becomes obsessed with the energy drink, organising gatherings in her house so she can convince people to invest in the scheme, even if this at the expense of alienating the affections of her children. It is only after the death of Shivamma’s brother-in-law does the village decide to ban the energy drink.

Shivamma’s unwavering commitment to the scheme becomes a critique of the lurid capitalist infiltration of rural India, one of many long-term damaging consequences of economic liberalization in which people are hoodwinked by the lure of instant wealth, falling into debt and beholden to new forms of consumerist coercion. Nonetheless, in her attempts to embrace a new modernity, Shivamma still harbours caste prejudices, situating her as an incongruous figure compared to her children’s wide eyed self awareness.