Caste versus Class. When #ManuJoseph won the #Hindu best fiction award for his work #SeriousMen in 2010, people acclaimed it as a revolutionary take on caste in contemporary India. However, it is also a tale of how the downtrodden class have come of age and it is only circumstances that are holding them back.
"It's a class thing," he suggested. "Most Indians readers of literary fiction written in English are of a certain class, and one of the recreations of the Indian upper class is compassion for the poor. I think the poor in India are increasingly very empowered, and the time has come when the novel can portray them in a more realistic way. Ayyan is still an underdog but that is due to his circumstances, not due to his intellect or aspirations."
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #SeriousMen created on film by #SudhirMishra and based on #ManuJoseph’s book, streaming on #NetflixIndia.
#NawazuddinSiddiqui is simply brilliant in his interpretation of the Dalit Tamil man Ayyan Mani working as an assistant to the upper-class Brahmin astrophysicist Arvind Acharya (#Nasser). Acharya works at the National Institute of Fundamental Research and he and the team are involved in very “serious” projects that involve sending balloons up into space. Ayyan lives with his wife Oja (#IndiraTiwari) and son Adi (newcomer #AakshatDas in a superb performance) in a one rom tenement in a Mumbai chawl. He is, however, a shrewd man and determined to ensure that his son fares better than him in life. He is treated badly by the ‘Serious Men’ at the office and accorded no respect. In turn, he is intelligent enough to understand a lot of what’s happening and bides his time to play his cards. The hypocrite nature of the upper class is demonstrated in how Acharya is having a clandestine affair with a young researcher.
Ayyan finally unleashes his revenge. The philosophy is that “if you can’t beat them, join them”. He portrays his son Adi, a mediocre student as a veritable genius; a miracle mind. Adi becomes the centrepiece of the film as a lab experiment as he spouts the formulae and the English that his father has systematically ingrained in him. The rules of the game are to drop big sounding English words, float random scientific theories and jargon and often use deceit as a means to surprise the audience. If all fails, resort to arrogance “I can’t deal with primitive minds”. The moot point is that the Ayyan is simply copying what he has seen his boss do in everyday work situations and imagines that imitation is enough to bluster through life.
And then there is the gullible masses and the media, hungry to lap all this up. Enter Dalit Leader Keshav Dhawre (#SanjayNavrekar) and his daughter Anuja (#ShwetaBasuPrasad) and the plot becomes even more murkier. The media plays up the caste card and the gullible people lap it up, living as they are in the hope of a miracle. The film showcases how the politician – builder- religion nexus can then leverage something like this and make it a mass movement.
#Seriousmen is a satire on contemporary India and the story is poignant, funny and evokes rage. It reminds you of #BongJoonHo’s #Parasite and is a fascinating version of the class conflict in India. Adi’s conundrum is heart-wrenching and you feel for the boy who is caught up in this mindless charade that has no end. It is a bleak tale of how the shark-like power brokers can eat you up if you let your guard down. There are no solutions offered; it leaves you to figure out how being upper class is a privilege and being lower class is a circumstance waiting to explode!
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