The trailer of Inji Iduppazhagi begins with Anushka offering Arya a plate of delicious-looking Keema samosas. He refuses politely, saying he’s on a diet, and can’t eat carbohydrates. She calls him a ‘loosu’ (mad) for looking at samosas, and seeing only carbohydrates. Here’s a woman, chubby by cinema’s heroine standards, owning her pleasure in food. In the next few shots, we see Urvasi, her mother, complaining that the treadmill might have lost weight, Sweety (Anushka) certainly hasn’t. Sweety smiles sweetly. And explains patiently, ‘I’m not fat mom, I’m full of health’. Round is something to smile about. That, in a nutshell, is the theme of Inji Iduppazhagi. A full-sized woman, the rejections she faces, and how she overcomes it all.
In a society where fat shaming is part of a child’s daily diet, Inji Iduppazhagi is a welcome relief. The trailer develops the theme of how being fat renders Sweety ‘unqualified’ for marriage. Her mother worries that she’ll remain a spinster for the rest of her life. But Sweety, an optimist, says that a prince will definitely come for her. Enter Abhi (Arya). Enter also the biggest cliché in Indian film history. Anushka literally falls into his helpful arms.
Enter also the third twist in the tale, the thin, heroine-sized Simran. Simran works at an NGO. Sweety is a little in awe, and a lot jealous. Especially as Simran seems to be close to Abhi. Sweety decides to join the ‘Size Zero’ gym, owned by Satyanand (Prakash Raj), which boldly claims to produce results in just one week. All this without diet or exercise! We then see Sweety’s various attempts at losing weight. She says no to cake, jogs with a tee shirt that says ‘I Love Men’. Except ‘n’ has been struck out. And, last of all, smashes a weighing machine with a bat. Here’s hoping the film smashes fat shaming with similar panache.
The trailer ends with the line “Ponnu Gunda irundha, reject panniduveengala? Appo Kalyanathuku apram gundaana? Divorce panniduveengala?” (Would you reject a girl just because she’s fat? So, if she becomes fat post-marriage, will you divorce her?)
In response, memes have already cropped up on Facebook, ‘Vasool Raja’ Style,
Translation : Before getting married, you look for someone who earns well, So if he earns less post marriage, will you divorce him?
Fair question. Maybe someone will make a film on this too. What’s great is that the marriage market, where women are valued by their size, and men by their wallet size, is facing some serious flak.