In 2017, Malayalam filmmaker Jeo Baby, his wife Beena and their newborn found themselves spending more time than usual in their kitchen. Th...
In 2017, Malayalam filmmaker Jeo Baby, his wife Beena and their newborn found themselves spending more time than usual in their kitchen. The “frustration” at having to constantly cook and clean inspired a movie that has received rave reviews across the board, especially from women.
The Great Indian Kitchen, which is available on the streaming platform Neestream, examines the drudgery of housework through the experiences of an unnamed recently married woman (Nimisha Sajayan). The wife’s physical and emotional labour is invisible to her family, especially her insensitive husband (Suraj Venjaramoodu).
Baby’s screenplay is layered with details about typically Indian male entitlement. For instance, the husband, a lecturer in sociology, keeps ignoring his wife’s complaints about a leaking pipe in the kitchen. Her father-in-law (T Suresh Babu) spends all day sleeping and eating and forces her into time-consuming shores. He insists that she does not use a cooker for boiling rice and wash clothes only by hand.
Some of the scenes are directly inspired by Baby’s days and nights in the kitchen. “There’s a scene where Nimisha smells her fingers and just cannot get rid of the kitchen smell,” Baby said. “That was my experience. You use as much soap or handwash, but the smell of cooking,...
