Shivamma movie review: A gem from Rishab Shetty's production captures the soul of rural Karnataka
Shivamma
The film follows Shivamma, who tries to become rich by selling expensive healthy supplements to cost-conscious neighbours in a North Karnataka village.
Shivamma marks the directorial debut of Jaishankar Aryar. After making quite a mark on the international festival circuit, the film, which is bankrolled by Kantara star Rishab Shetty, is all set to open in cinemas on June 14.
The film follows Shivamma, who tries to become rich by selling expensive healthy supplements to cost-conscious neighbours in a North Karnataka village.
Shivamma opens with a rather quirky image: a village backdrop, early morning, and two older women draped in sarees performing their morning fitness routine on the paved road running between agricultural fields. Shivamma (played by Shivamma Chetti) is one of the two women. She is meditating.
The popular belief is that people in villages live closer to nature and have a healthier lifestyle, leading to good health and a happy life. Their simple way of life is enviable for us urban dwellers, constantly burdened by worries. Villagers tend to be active: they rise early, work in the fields under the sun, breathe fresh air, drink cleaner water, and avoid processed foods and other unhealthy products of urban convenience. On the other hand, city dwellers often lead sedentary lives, with unhealthy diets and high stress levels. Many urbanites yearn for a magic pill to solve health problems like obesity and poor diet.
Enter the trend of the meal replacement plan, a dietary approach where you substitute one or more meals with specially formulated shakes. These shakes are designed to meet our nutritional needs, ridding us of the pressure that comes with making the right dietary choices three times a day.
But how will this modern dietary approach fare among people in the villages, who seem to live longer and healthier lives than the average city folk? And most importantly, do they even need this program to stay healthy? It seems the village folks are not averse to trying the modern lifestyle as long as it's cost-effective– ideally, free.
Shivamma hails from a very humble background and embodies the quality of life often associated with villages. While not wealthy, she is demonstrably healthy. She is thin yet strong, and despite her age, she remains nimble. In one scene, her son asks her to push-start his motorbike, and she does so without any complaints of back pain or age-related weakness.
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Shivamma works as a mid-day meal cook at a government school in North Karnataka. She provides nutritious food to children at school and aims to get rich by providing nutritional supplements to grown-ups in her village.
Shivamma is old and cash-strapped, but she doesn't let her situation define her. She gambles on herself and invests in starting a nutritional club in her small village. She is industrious, ambitious, and fearless.
Traditionally, a woman like Shivamma would be very cautious and advise young people to play it safe, walk the well-trodden path, and be wary of other people's opinions. But Shivamma is an anti-arche. She even uses money that could have helped with her daughter's wedding expenses to fuel her ambition.
In her effort to be a trailblazer, Shivamma is misunderstood by the villagers. One day, a relative who was on her diet program died unexpectedly. He was old and had some health issues. However, the villagers assume that he died because of his diet. A woman mourning the man's death sings a lament, blaming Shivamma's shakes for his death. The scene is both dark and darkly humorous.
Shivamma delivers an engrossing experience, leaving you with a sense of having shared Shivamma's ambition, innocence, struggles, and perseverance.