MULAKARAM - The Breast Tax (Short film review)

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MULAKARAM

Directed by : Yogesh Pagare

Written by : Yogesh Pagare

Cast : Anushree Kushwaha, Ravi Khengle, Gautam Shyam Bhojpuria, Nazneen Patni, Yogesh Pagare, Saumyy Shivhare, Shashank Prajapati

Music by : A. Sivamani

The Breast Tax or Mulakaram was a tax imposed on lower caste (Dalit), untouchable Hindu women by the kingdom of Travancore (the present-day Kerala), if women wanted to cover their breasts in public. The lower caste women were not allowed to cloth their breasts when going out in public. They were required to be naked from breasts and perform any public services they were responsible for. This film is based on this imposition of the breast tax.

This short film with an intriguing title pushes you to research the pages of history and find certain names that were responsible for a big change in the aggressive outlook of the society. This 15 minute film presents a story with a wonderful screenplay, dialogues and visuals. Nangeli, a lower caste comrade fights against caste discrimination and chops off her breasts and presents them them in a plantain leaf, succumbing herself to loss of blood to eradicate the law of “mulakaram”.

With such a huge thought and concept in such a small amount of time is worth praise. The story revolves around the woman protagonist protesting to cover her breasts which she eventually does and the authorities asking her to pay the “mulakaram”. What we come across is that the amount of the tax was decided by analyzing the size and the shape of the breasts. Seen from a feminist point of view, this was for benefit and pleasure of men from the upper castes of the society who usually came to collect this tax. The short film motivates you to conduct a detailed research about stories from the Travancore kingdom. How the director of the movie has enthralled the audience is worth complete applause. What I personally appreciate is the courage of such women who come forward to stand against casteism. Along with the introduction of protest culture by lower society, the film introduces “the first male sati”, Nangeli’s husband, leading to an erase in line of feminism and masculinity rights. Had it not been Nangeli, the whole country would have been under the atrocities of this tradition.

This is such a contemporary classic that is worth watching. I know many people may have watched it earlier but I found this short film worth a review. The public is highly recommended to watch this. This reaches out to the audience about the story of a great, untold fight and automatically moves your hands in thumbs up. Only deprived minds could have given it a thumbs down. The audience wonders on the issue of humanity being slaughtered into several pieces, and reflects on how Dalits were enforced with debts using one way or another to deprive them of their natural deserved existence. The audience is left startled on the barbaric and brutal nature of the ancient traditions.

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