After its premiere at this year's Berlinale, the Indian social drama “Eeb Allay Ooo!” by Prateek Vats was screened in the program of the We Are One film festival. The movie was presented by the Mumbai Film Festival.
The film addresses topics such as guest workers and family affiliation and gives an interesting insight into Indian customs, professional hierarchies and the country's legal system.
Anjani moves to New Delhi to live with his sister to support her and earn money. But finding a job turns out to be rather difficult and so he is happy when his brother-in-law gets him a job as a civil servant. But this is more exhausting than expected. Monkeys have made themselves comfortable in the city. They are regarded as half gods and must not be hurt. But around the government building they are not wanted. That's why there are the monkey expellers. Anjani becomes one of them. The only problem is that he's afraid of the monkeys.
With a lot of humor, the film tells about this clumsy but lovable main character. Sensitively it portrays the young man without exposing him. For the viewer, the film captures in an impressive way the anxiety that spreads throughout the story and ends in a dramatic climax. The title of the film describes the call that the monkey expellers use. It is intelligent to choose these three words as a common thread for the film. It works like a mantra. Actually very easy to remember, but only the main character can't, no matter how hard he tries. This motif is very important for the drawing of the character. No matter how hard he tries, he can't integrate. He cannot turn off his head and submit like his colleagues.
“Eeb Allay Ooo!” is about hierarchies and status, but it's also about traditions. The film gives an insight into the relationship between humans and animals. While monkeys are untouchable, many people live in desolate conditions. After all, the life of an ape is worth more than that of a single human being.
The acting performance of Shardul Bhardwaj as Anjani is outstanding. He shows precisely how his role oscillates between uncertainty, ambition and defiance. The strength of the film lies in the uniformity of the image, which is the result of the cinematography of Saumyananda Sahi. The editing by Tanushree Das is quite fast, so that the film feels basically entertaining. Nevertheless, it is long and repetitive in places.
The Indian social drama introduces us to an exotic culture and deals with a hitherto little known subject. A tightening of the plot would have helped the film to leave a more lasting impression.
What do you think about the ending ?
I feel Anjani is a killer, who kills his colleague and his Jija and sister. later, sells the gun and costume to not get caught. Also the ending part where he goes to a langar/mela for food and then acts bit weird and goes in the pit where he turns his face black and moving his face with out sync to show his darker side. One point in the movie mahendra says “Ye to thoda vo he”, means he can be either he can be psycho or stutterer. I’m curious to know what perspective you have towards the ending of the movie and also, It’s not meme, I am serious about the perspective. Also, you can email me the ending ?