Review of Chilli Chicken

Just saw the Kannada movie "Chilli Chicken" at PVR at Bhartiya City. 

A slice of the life of migrants from the north east, a slice of the city of Bangalore, or the story of migrants anywhere...  It could be called any of these. The movie is based on the story of these migrants who are employed in a Bangalore restaurant. The language in the movie shifts between Kannada and  Manipuri, hence the need for subtitles which are there. 

The movie has a story line that keeps you gripped throughout. There are no famous stars here, but all the actors give convincing performances. 

At times it has the feel of a Noir movie, with its surprising twists in the plot, and an accidental murder woven into the story. The background music and songs are  good too. 

It also brings out a social message, about how all of us treat outsiders, in a subtle way, woven into the plot and the dialogue.

The cinematography is good and the editing is slick - it kept me engaged throughout wanting to know what comes next. 

In terms of overall mix of elements, I would think it comes closest to Lapata Ladies, though the plots of the two films have nothing in common. 

It is obviously not a big budget production but the whole thing has coalesced into a great finished product. A lot of credit for this must go the Director, Prateek. This his first film but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Very impressive effort - Prateek is set to go places in the industry. 

*The Director Prateek Prajosh lives in our Layout

On Food Additives

All processed foods contain many additives, all of them chemicals, and none of them fit for consumption. 

The additives could be for the purpose of: 

Faking the food: Hershey's strawberry syrup has no strawberries, for example. 

Making it last longer.

Adding colour,

Adding flavour,

Adding some property, like say, a chemical to make salt non hygroscopic and free flowing. 

But they are all "safe", within safe limits, goes the argument. 

The apologist who puts forward this argument should go back and read that forward on medicines once again. Every allopathic medicine is a chemical with dosages in milligrams. Individually, these medicines are harmful, and collectively they are deadly. No tests are done, in fact it is impossible to do any tests, for the millions of combinations in which these drugs may enter the human body.

It's the same with food additives. They are individually harmful, and collectively, they are deadly. And no tests are done, in fact, no tests exist, for the millions of combinations in which they are used. 

We insist on taking our food, killing it, adding manufactured salt, refined oils, white sugars, high fructose corn syrups, hydrogenated oils, flavours, preservatives, colours... And we even irradiate foods, ripen them chemically, put wax coatings on them, use chemicals and pesticides while growing them... The list goes on. 

Each of these processes and additives kills the food and makes it less edible. Together, these processes convert our food into poison. 

So we eat processed foods, in other words,  poison instead of food. Then we get sick. Then we take more poisons as medicines. 

The only way out of this cycle is to opt out. 

Stop drugging yourself. 

Say no to drugs. 

Say no to allopathic medicines. 

Say no to processed foods. 

Say no to white sugar. 

Say no to refined oils. 

Say no to manufactured table salt. 

Say yes to organic food, freshly procured, from trusted verified sources.

Say yes to cooking at home, using only the best and purest of ingredients. 

Say yes to eating your food within hours of cooking. 

Doing all that will increase the quality of your life, and paradoxically, reduce expenses in the long run

Use Your Finger

Use your finger

To vote for progress, 

Against the forces of regress,

Use your finger, 

To reject appeasement,

At the cost of everyone else, 

Use your finger,

To stop the unchecked loot,

We suffered since our nation took birth, 

Use your finger, 

To give more time,

To those with honest intent, 

Use your finger, 

To reclaim the pride,

That is ours by right, 

Use your finger,

To protect what is yours, 

By right and inheritance,

Use your finger ,

To protect home and hearth,

From being broken or burnt, 

Use your finger, 

To reject throwing money, 

In freebies that are not earned,

Use your finger,

To guard against partition,

That they would foist upon us, 

Use your finger, 

To keep from breaking,

Our country one more time, 

Use your finger, 

To reject the Hand that misleads,

Along with all of their ilk,

Use your finger ,

And allow to bloom,

The Lotus in each one of us,

Use your finger,

To reclaim our temples, 

From ruins and barbarians,

Use your fingers, 

To stop the return, 

Of the masters of loot and run,

Use your fingers, 

To show your true clout,

Which to yourself was hidden, 

Use your fingers,

To enable once more, 

Ramrajya: the rule of the just! 

In the train from Bangalore to Coimbatore, I am reading this "in train"  magazine placed on the rack near the seat.

The Railways are learning! The articles are typical photo heavy shallow stuff, and they are liberally peppered with words like biodiversity, sustainability, responsible tourism, carbon neutral, etc. 

Meanwhile, vendors keep passing selling chai, samosa, chikki , etc.

India is always a great study in bridging contrasts and blending diverse things into one sensory heavy experience. 

I am now waiting for sustainability and ecological responsibility brochures next time I pass through Dharavi. We are beating the goras at their own game...

Ruminations on food

Don't count calories. It's a waste of time. 

Don't look at nutrition labels on food packages. It's a waste of time. 

Salt being bad for health is a myth. Just have the right kind of salt, which is raw sea salt or rock salt, and forget worrying about salt. 

Saturated fat being bad for you is a myth. Have ghee. And butter. Eat ghee. Drink it. Cook in ghee. The entire "science" of cholesterol is complete nonsense.

Avoid white sugar. Take it as close to zero as possible. You can use gud or other traditional sugars. There are dozens of varieties in India. 

Statins or blood thinners do no good. They only cause harm. Irrespective of what your doctor is telling you, throw your statins into the dustbin. 

Have honey. And sugar cane juice. Even if you are diabetic. 

If you have allergy problems, or auto immune disorders, or anything that refuses to go away, try dropping  milk and wheat from your diet. There is a good chance that your problems will disappear.

Avoid foods which have preservatives and chemicals added in them. 

Trace all foods to the source, as far as possible. Where grown, if fertilisers and pesticides used, when harvested, etc. for processed foods, what process, how processed, what additives, what preservatives. Once you attempt to do this , you will never eat any food that is processed. Or, even if you do, you will stop telling people not to smoke. Processed food is more unhealthy than smoking.

Biscuits are processed food. So are store bought attas/ flour. Cool drinks are not food. Pasteurised homogenised milk is processed food. Etc etc. the list is long. They are all poisons.

A long list of don'ts is difficult to remember. You can replace it with a short list of do's. Which is: 

Buy only what grows. 

Buy only cold pressed oils, non white sugars namely guds, raw unprocessed salt. And A2 milk. 

Reduce grains in the diet to the extent possible. 

Eat light at night. 

Eat only while hungry. 

Eat only while in a good frame of mind. 

Practice mindfulness while eating.

Cook food yourself. And eat it fresh. Any cooked food that enters the fridge is not fresh. 

Eat only half stomach. 

Fast once in a while. 

You want to still summarise it further, then it will help think of it as follows. 

Consider your food as prasad, an offering to the Gods. 

What precautions will you take if you are cooking for your God? 

That's it. That one thought puts the whole thing in perspective, and the right actions follow. 

A lot of progress in a lot of areas in life depends not on rushing forward, but  on going back, peeling the layers, and simplifying. 

Go back to the basics. Go back to your elemental nature. Reject all that is not pure. 

It sounds simple, and it is. But it is far from easy.