Eeb Allay Ooo

2019, Hindi, Netflix, 7.4/10 IMDB, Directed by Prateek Vats

A prying gaze in to the devolution of humans, aping the apes, for a living, in the name of ‘Monkey-Repelling’ jobs in the capital city. The film blurs the already thin divide that exists between the lives of the downtrodden and that of the animals on the streets.

In a culturally rich country like India, lives of animals are sacred. Yes, they possess the same rights as the humans does over this planet, but it turns worrisome, when the unfortunate human lives are not valued equally. From monkeys, to elephants, to cows to crows, the personified ‘sacred-being’ list, goes on and somewhere it strikes a contrast to the plight of the ‘not so sacred’ migrant humans, who are forced to be uprooted and displaced for survival. The maker nails in establishing their agony, through a subtle narrative.

A classic sequences is, where a man feeding a monkey, standing adjacent to the placard that says, ‘Do not feed the monkeys’ and when condemned by the repeller, gives a sly reply that he knows the monkey repelling contractor. The maker is keen on highlighting the very kind of systemic corruption that the country is infested with. The maker also parallelly establishes the nimbus of ‘Government jobs’, even if it is to do with chasing away a bunch of monkeys.

The bigotry of the migrant worker, Anjani, in his new job, echoes the viewer’s thoughts, through his hardship in getting the monkey phonetics, right. His instinct to use a slingshot and his innovative effort to dress up as a langur himself to scare the monkeys, ends in vain and he looses his much needed job. Unemployment is captured in its full glory through the toppled life of the naive migrant youngster, sending unknown wrenches.

The menacing monkey’s life being esteemed over the life of the sincerest repeller’s life, runs a chill down the spine. He is lynched to death for he accidentally had killed a monkey, while at his repelling work. The maker chooses not to visualise it onscreen and rather leaves it open for the viewer’s insight to depict the predicaments of the human lives, especially the migrants.

Fatigued by job hunts, Anjani joins the procession of the God, with the other monkey costumed performers who lead the way. He lets himself loose off the pain caused by his anguish and desperation. He dances beside the frenzy devotees, now that he is not bounded by the Job that demanded him to play by the rules. He did just the same, while at work, dressing up in a langur costume to scare the monkeys, but got fired instead. Radical irony indeed.

Kudos to the team.