“The human body is sacred and you have to transfer your blessed molecules to the subsequent generations through oral or non-oral molecule transfer”.
Welcome to the future... where the entire world believes in ‘Scientific Religion’. The above quote is an excerpt from ‘The Book’, the holy book that guides the followers of Scientific Religion.
World has dumped all the other religions since long. They are now history and are now referred as the non-scientific ancient religions. They promised of rewards and punishments in some other world to motivate their followers to lead a moral life and failed.
The Scientific Religion grants eternity to its followers - dead persons are cooked well and eaten by others, letting their molecules start their journey to the subsequent generations. When it dawned upon the people that their molecules can attain eternity and lead a human life forever if they make a few compromises and lead a moral life, the entire world marched into Scientific Religion without any reservations. All misdeeds vanished from earth.
Then one day, someone gets a hunch that there is a problem somewhere. ‘Velipadukal – Biography of a Sacred Cow’, a Malayalam short movie, unfolds through the situations the lead character is going through when doubts spring up in his mind about the religion rest of the world blindly follow. As one can expect, being the world’s only non-believer is not going to be fun.
Velipadukal was premiered at Montage Documentary/Short Film Festival at Manjeri last week. It is a daring attempt that cleverly delivers its message to the society through simple thought provoking events. Though the story is happening in a place in the future, do not expect flying cars and busy robots in alien looking surroundings. The events are happening in places familiar to you, where buses and auto-rickshaws are still the primary mode of transport. By avoiding fancy costumes and futuristic surroundings, director has succeeded in projecting the storyline powerfully.
The movie has short but powerful scenes that build the backbone of the story. Though there is just one religion in this future world, there are factions that are divided on petty aspects. Like all religions, Scientific Religion too has extremist groups whose violent thoughts sadden the religion’s supreme. In one scene, the lead character asks “Why am I getting all these doubts about the religion? Is it because I am more intelligent than others?”. Velipadukal portrays all aspects of a religion-driven society through well thought out scenes.
Velipadukal is written and directed by Shahul Ameen. Dhanoop plays the lead role. Ramachandran’s cinematography and J S Shyam’s music works stand out. Visit http://reactionshots.in for more details about this movie.
