Kaaka Muttai

Like a pizza, Manikandan's Kaaka Muttai is multi-layered; on the surface, it is all warm and inviting — a feel-good film about two kids and their simple desire and the earnestness in the filmmaking invites comparision with Iranian films like Children of Heaven. Then, there is a hard base to it as well and from time to time, the film turns into a commentary on the class divide in our society and how it is exploited by wily politicians, an allegory of the effects of globalization, and even a satire on media's obsession with sensationalism, a la Peepli Live.

The story begins with a plot of land which acts as a playground to the kids in the slum being sold off to make way for a pizza outlet. The pizza place is opened by a film star (Simbu in a cameo) and the enticing visuals of the pizza create a burning desire in these two boys (the terrific debutants Ramesh and Vignesh) who cannot even afford the normal egg and resort to drinking crow's egg (hence their nicknames — Chinna Kaaka Muttai and Periya Kaaka Muttai) to buy and eat a pizza. The lads' father is in prison, their mother (young Aishwarya Rajesh boldly taking on the role of a mother of two) is running the show at home with great difficulty and their grandmother is almost an invalid.

But on hearing their wish, an empathetic railway lineman called Pazharasam ( Joe Malloori), lets them take (read steal) the coal from the yard, and they start hoarding the money they earn by selling it. But after being driven out by the security at the pizza outlet because they are "kuppathu pasanga" and dressed in rags, there begins another round of chasing after money — this time, to buy new clothes. They manage that as well but at the pizza shop, the manager slaps one of them and tells them to buzz off. This incident, however, is captured on a mobile phone and soon, it turns into a media-fuelled, raging controversy. The small-time thief and his cohort (RJ Ramesh and Yogi Babu portraying characters who come across as a modern-d...

When PIZZA was replaced for the CROW'S EGG.

India is the world's largest film producer, but when it comes to the international standards, it falls short. They make movies for the domestic market only, just like the largest mango producer in the world and consumes it all with a 1% export rate. Even small countries that have no big market like India competes with the European standards. But in the recent times the changes have been seen, lots of parallel cinemas are made; is what called alternate to the masala films (mixed genres). The young generation supporting it, both from the audience and the filmmaker.

The sad thing is they're choosing a wrong movie to represent the country in the Oscars, so as a result ending up with a disappointment every time. I thought last year they failed to pick 'The Lunchbox' as similar to this one for this year. I don't know whether they would have won the trophy, but these films need to be recognised in a big stage like that. Making into the final five reveals all the India films are not random musical beats. So my point is India missed the bus to the venue Dolby Theatre Hollywood, LA, USA for the second consecutive time.

This film feels like a feather fallen out of the British film 'Slumdog Millionaire', but it was totally a different genre except sets in and about the slum kids. A simple story, yet very moving. Two young brothers go regularly to pick the crow's egg in an vacant site near their slum since they can't offer chicken eggs. When the place is bought by a largest pizza chain in the city to bring up their new branch, the kids fix their mind to taste their first pizza and put all the effort to make it happen. But again, they have to face all the odds and that's where the narration takes the turn before heading the end.

"I want pizza too, not dad."

Without the prior experience the two kids were so awesome in their performances. They two won the best child actor award at the Indian Academy Awards, including th...