Freedom Fight talks about individuals right to freedom: Jeo Baby – The Indian Express

A movie that was widely discussed for asking disturbing questions about how patriarchy works inside families and marriages, The Great Indian Kitchen was a movie which exposed the hypocrisy and toxicity of male privilege inside our own families. The Great Indian Kitchen director-writer Jeo Baby has said in many interviews that his movie was a result of genuine self-introspection as a male who finally has to take the responsibility of the kitchen. Since the release of The Great Indian Kitchen, the whole discourse around spaces like kitchen and family has been reshaped and reinvented as many women have dared to come out and speak about the discrimination or burden they have been facing because of predetermined gender roles starting from the families itself. As Great Indian Kitchen fame Jeo Baby is all set to release his next movie titled Freedom Fight which is an anthology, the director talks about his politics on issues of patriarchy, Sabarimala and his upcoming project.

Starting from The Great Indian Kitchen, when did you decide this was a subject that needs to be told?

I have said this in many interviews. As a person involved in the field of art, this concept first struck me when I started working in a kitchen. I realised the importance of this subject and also realised how much the kitchen was ignored by writers and filmmakers. The reason for that is the male dominant society. This happens because of a historical conditioning by the patriarchal society we are part of. Even if you look at the works of women writers, the subject of kitchen is discussed very rarely and that I think it is because of this conditioning. Male writers have ignored it conveniently so that they dont have to work in a kitchen. Its an escapism to ignore kitchen as a subject. After my marriage in 2015, its my personal experiences with the kitchen space that formed the base of The Great Indian Kitchen and its more of a self-introspective thought process. Though we have cooked in a kitchen, the dread and horror of it strikes when you take the full responsibility of the kitchen and that made me think of this subject seriously and prompted me to write The Great Indian Kitchen.

The climax of The Great Indian Kitchen touches upon a volatile topic where the heroine (played by Nimisha) throws dirty water on her husband who is fasting to visit Sabarimala. How did you decide to stick on to that particular climax which could have attracted threats to your life?

I started planning this movie in 2017. It takes me some time to fine tune a subject. It was during that time the Supreme Court verdict which allowed women of all ages to enter Sabarimala was declared. Though it was portrayed as a progressive move at first, soon we witnessed how the verdict was seen as a threat to religious sentiments and all that. Again the burden was on the women as they were the ones who were not allowed to enter a temple because of their biology. I find that the regressive attitude against women starts from home. If a man from a home is planning to go for a Sabarimala pilgrimage, a woman in that house cant touch him or cook food while shes on her periods. Even her movements are restricted inside a home during that time. So more than the courage to touch a so-called sensitive subject, I consider it my responsibility as an artist to bring that subject into perspective. If we have to be fearful of a society to talk about such a subject, its not our problem. Its societys problem. I deliberately used the Sabarimala reference in my movie. It was a conscious effort to do something through my movie to throw at least a stone against this Hindutwa propaganda. See, The Great Indian Kitchen could have been made without touching the Sabarimala issue and it would have been cinematically better if I would have done it without touching the Sabarimala issue. However, I was adamant to include it even if it looks deliberate, mainly because I felt so much indignation, seeing the way women are being insulted and out-casted by these religious views. Also this issue has helped me to overcome the creative block or dilemma I had with the climax of the movie. It may be my shortcoming as a filmmaker for not using something subtle for that climax, but I am confident that it was very relevant. It has to be said strongly considering the times we live in where society is holding onto outdated religious views. And I think that climax helped the movie to be discussed more and even it helped many women to rethink their position on this issue.

As a filmmaker who has touched upon the Sabarimala issue and womens rights through your movie, how do you see the constant attack by RSS on Bindu Ammini, the first woman who entered Sabarimala following the Supreme Court verdict. And how do you see the state governments approach when it comes to the repeated physical attacks on Bindu?

Firstly, the left parties took a strong and progressive stance on womens entry into Sabarimala. People like us were happy regarding the stance of Left government on this issue. Then, Bindu Ammini and Kanaka Durga entered Sabarimala. Initially, even the mainstream media celebrated the entry of women in Sabarimala. The first impact was positive, I think. But slowly in the name of religious sentiments, we have seen how Sangh Parivar outfits and even Congress took a very regressive stance on this issue. Subsequently, the Left also diluted their stance which is disappointing. See, the Left government clearly used Bindu Ammini and Kanaka Durga to make a statement. These women have historical relevance. They have been helped by the Left government to enter Sabarimala with the help of police which gave the government a significant mileage in the minds of progressive people. But what happened after that? We have seen Devaswom Minister Kadakampalli Surendran asking for forgiveness for their stance and we saw the Left government taking a U-turn in their stance during the elections. Then we saw the Left government abandoning Bindu Ammini. See Bindu Ammini comes from a Dalit background and we all know what is Lefts attitude towards Dalit communities over the years. What we are seeing is a very unfortunate state of affairs. A historical woman like Bindu Ammini has to fight for justice and self-protection from the police. She has to fight for justice and her right to live without fear while the same Left government which supported womens entry into Sabarimala is ruling. This makes the situation even more worse. I was with Bindu Ammini during her fight for justice, so I know what she stands for. All this clearly shows the double standards of the current government which we never expected.

As a filmmaker who has closely observed the workings of patriarchy inside families, do you think the responsibility to run the family, the burden of being an ideal wife or ideal mother etc are imposed by patriarchy over women?

Yes, definitely. Many women are living in fear and suffocation inside these so-called families. Some of them are showing courage to come out by opening up about in social media and other platforms. Institutions like family which is a construct of patriarchy has held back the voices of women in general. Now things are slowly changing and we will hear more voices of women in the near future.

After the release of The Great Indian Kitchen, have you got messages from people, especially women, about how their life is similar to what youve shown in the movie?

Yes, Ive got thousands of messages, if not more. And many personal messages from women detailing their experiences in families are scarier than we can imagine. I havent completely read all the messages Ive received. I still have many unread messages in my Instagram which explain the experiences of women in their families. After reading many messages, I think what we have shown in The Great Indian Kitchen is actually a lighter version of womens experience inside families and marriages. The reality is even more brutal.Has your perspective changed as a filmmaker after the release of The Great Indian Kitchen, given the kind of reception it got?Not really. I am a filmmaker who wishes to reinvent my craft with every film I do or who wants to experiment in my films. Cinema has to change with the times we live in. But as a filmmaker, I dont think my perspective about cinema has changed much since the release of The Great Indian Kitchen. Im a person who enjoys all kinds of films, be it an entertainer, comedy or action film. The Great Indian Kitchen is just a movie in my film journey. Also, the films or the content for films is found only in the society I live in or the experiences I have had. I dont add much fiction to my movies other than some creative elements to connect the story. I try to stay true to reality which is evident from my other movies like Kunju Daivam, Randu Penkuttikal etc.

Tell us about your upcoming project Freedom Fight?

Its been almost a year since the release of The Great Indian Kitchen and the urge to make another film was constantly on my mind. But, we have this ongoing pandemic in front of us and the restrictions that come with it. So, it would be difficult to shoot a full length film in such a scenario. Thats when I thought of an anthology so that four or five movies of half an hour can be shot at different places and can be completed in one or two weeks. I finalized on a subject for my part and then I was on the look out for content for other movies. My plan was to put together five good movies and I was in search for other four movies after I finalised mine. I didnt plan for this title Freedom Fight or didnt have a general theme in mind. I didnt even know the other directors of this movie before, other than Francies Louis who was the editor of The Great Indian Kitchen. Francies briefed me on an idea he had in mind and I asked him to develop it- which made it two films including mine. I connected with the other three directors who are part of this anthology through their content. I told my idea to make an anthology in my friends circle. I just wanted to make five good movies. I didnt put forward any other restriction. I didnt want it to confine it to a particular genre or idea. I just said you can do the best with what you have. So it was through my friends that I got the other three directors of this film. We finalised the five movies and it all happened in different locations and different schedules. After seeing the first cut of the whole project, we realised that all these five movies are speaking about the freedom of humans or an individuals right for freedom. It happened accidentally and we decided to name the movie Freedom Fight.

Do you see filmmaking as activism or a medium to express a political stance?

It happens naturally because of the society we live in. I think filmmaking is a combination of activism, political statement and entertainment. How does international films from Iran or other war ridden countries portray the hard reality of the people affected by this man made conflict? It happens naturally. These socio-political situations affect our thought process even without our knowledge. Even if I want to make a movie for pure entertainment, some of the socio-political issues will be discussed in my film. It sometimes happens naturally because of the society we live in. I personally dont believe in making films to put across my political stance and I dont want to get typecast as a filmmaker. But, sometimes my political stance can be read in the films I make because I live in a society which has socio-political issues which need to be addressed and discussed.

Youve never held back on your views on socio-political issues. Do you think its a social obligation as an artist?

I think its our responsibility. But we should be genuine about what we say. What we see in political discourse , be it online or offline, is that we cannot stand an opposing idea. Theres no space for constructive discourse, instead its all done with an intention to silence the opposing view. I think its a kind of fascism. We talk against fascism but were not ready to confront the fascist tendencies inside ourselves. Weve seen the ban on Media One channel two days back and weve seen the dirty silence of many social media warriors on this issue. These are the kind of silences we should be ashamed of.

We have seen many movies with toxic content being celebrated over the years. In that perspective, what do you think can be considered as the success of a movie?

As an industry, the success of a movie is determined by the profit it makes for the producer. Other than that were seeing a definite change in Malayalam cinema in terms of content. Were seeing movies that discuss topics which were ignored before. Weve seen movies like Arkariyam, Saras, Thinkalazcha Nischayam, Jan E Man etc in the last year. Theres a definite shift in the treatment and subjects discussed in these movies and a group of filmmakers are responsible for this shift which is a good thing for our industry. These are young or new people who are bringing on this change and Im not saying all these movies are perfect or beyond criticism including mine, but that were changing is a very positive sign. The movies of a particular time period have influenced our thought process in a negative way. Its not just a Narasimham or Valsalyam. Movies that came out in a time period generally influenced us in a negative way, reassured patriarchal tendencies, glorified toxic masculanity but now we are changing. We have made movies which holds up the right of abortion from a womens perspective. So were definitely starting to change in a progressive manner at least in some areas. Im happy that I and my friends are also part of that change.

Your last movie The Great Indian Kitchen was an OTT release and your upcoming movie Freedom Fight is also an OTT release. How do you see this change in shift from theaters to OTT?

There are positive sides to OTT release. But as a filmmaker, its a bit unfortunate that were missing the theater experience. The biggest positive of OTT release is that the movies with quality and relevant content are widely discussed even outside Kerala. If The Great Indian Kitchen was released in theaters, it would have been a failure. Firstly, because its mainly men who go to theaters. We dont usually see a woman going to the theatre alone. Traditionally, men take their family to the cinema and I dont think many men would want their wives or daughters to watch The Great Indian Kitchen. So in the case of movies like The Great Indian Kitchen, OTT release was a boon considering the reach we got. I think were at a time when movies are released in both OTT and theaters which is good for cinema.

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Freedom Fight talks about individuals right to freedom: Jeo Baby - The Indian Express