Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa movie review: When Gandhi Jayanti plays spoilsport for a Sunday special

Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa movie story: For young Sneha (Samruddhi Kundapura), the Sunday special at her house is chicken curry, an ‘event’ she looks forward to keenly. When her dad Ramesh (Shridhar M) fails to bring home chicken to be cooked what with shops closed on account of Gandhi Jayanti, she gets him to set out on a hunt for that elusive meat. They have no luck, though, so, Sneha sets off to visit her grandparents, who live not too far away, in the hope that they’d have homegrown chicken that they’d more than willingly slaughter for her.

Trouble is that her grandparents Mahabala Shetty (Prabhakar Kunder) and Vanaja (Radha Ramachandra), and pretty much all of their neighbours have earmarked their chicken as Deepavali offerings to god. Determined to get his granddaughter the chicken curry she so desperately wanted, Mahabala tries his best to fulfil her wish. Will Sneha get to eat chicken curry to her heart’s content?

Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa movie review: Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa is director Abhilash Shetty’s sophomore project and second film in his proposed ‘Koli’ trilogy, which started with Koli Taal. While Koli Taal was entirely set in the village where Mahabala and Vanaja welcome their grandson Sumanth (Abhilash) and follows the hunt for a rooster that goes missing from their home, Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa takes the narrative to a small town as well. It’s where Mahabala’s daughter Revathi (Chandravathi) lives with her husband Ramesh and daughter Sneha. Those who’ve seen Koli Taal will immediately make the connection between the two films, and it would make sense to watch it before embarking on this journey.

Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa is largely about Sneha’s futile attempts to get her hands on some chicken, which Abhilash has laced with humour and very mild socio-political commentary, like, when, a butcher comments that the government order banning sale of meat products on Gandhi Jayanti, which has fallen on a Sunday, a day when meat sellers make the most sales, is governmental oppression. There’s also the bit about a Christian family only buying meat from a vendor who does not kill in the name of religion (halal cut). It’s nicely woven into the narrative and Abhilash does not go overboard with it, sticking to the story he intended to tell for the most part.

Abhilash has, no doubt, grown as a filmmaker – the making is better and the writing is clever, connecting both films, as well as the events in this one; if you can’t get chicken on Gandhi Jayanti, you can on the next day, or can you? While Prabhakar Kunder was the standout performer of Koli Taal, this time it is little Samruddhi Kundapura, with a measured yet confident portrayal as Sneha; she is equal measure innocent and city-smart. Sanidhya Acharya as Sneha’s friend Sofia, supports her well.

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When I’d watched Koli Taal, the gender roles of Mahabala and Vanaja, where he toils hard in their farm and never lends a helping hand to Vanaja as she runs the household, seemed a bit difficult to digest, although such characters are not alien to me. The tone Mahabala talks with Vanaja when enraged also seemed problematic, as did the very apparent class divide of landlord vs labourer. But then, I guess, that’s how life in villages used to be, or perhaps, still is.

Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa movie verdict: Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa is a very self-assured second film from Abhilash Shetty, that never once loses the small-town charm the trilogy is intended to have. Like the first film, this one too is only an hour and a half, and presents a sweet and funny tale about the hunt for the elusive ‘koli’.

Also read: Koli Taal movie review: Simple tale, set in a quaint village in Karnataka, which warms the cockles of the heart