Vague Visages’ Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa review contains minor spoilers. Abhilash Shetty’s 2024 movie (also known as Sunday Special) features Prabhakar Kunder, Radha Ramachandra and Samrudhi Kundapura. Check out the VV home page for more film reviews.

Abhilash Shetty’s latest feature, Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa, is a spiritual sequel to his 2021 debut film, Koli Taal (The Chicken Curry), wherein Mahabala (Prabhakar Kunder) and his wife, Vanaja (Radha Ramachandra), prepare chicken curry for their granddaughter, Sneha (Samrudhi Kundapura). The Kannada film’s narrative unfolds in a small town in Karnataka and centers around Sneha, a young girl with a stubborn urge to eat chicken on Gandhi Jayanti — the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi — when local shops close out of respect to the non-violent Indian freedom struggle. Through the protagonist’s experiences, Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa underlines the hard lessons of life with a soft and firm directorial voice.

When Sneha feels exhausted in Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa, she visits her grandparents’ place so that her demand for chicken curry will be satisfied. Shetty’s screenplay is well-plotted, and there’s never a dull moment, as the personal aspect of the story will likely feel all too familiar for most India residents. On Sundays, many families with non-vegetarian food habits prefer chicken or mutton for their meals. And on the occasion of a national holiday in India, certain shopkeepers in the country black market sell liquor and meat at high prices due to their non-availability. In Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa, Shetty shows three friends drinking alcohol in a secluded corner. In an inebriated state, one of the characters states that it’s understandable to close chicken and mutton shops, since both fall under the untaxed category. But by closing liquor stores, on which taxes are levied, both the government and the citizens suffer. In another scene, a chicken seller says he has lost ₹5,000 due to the meat ban and sees the act not as a semblance of respect toward the non-violent principles of Gandhi, but rather as an act of oppression by the government. Such sociopolitical comments layer Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa with depth while critiquing the intersection of tradition, law and commerce in modern India.

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Shetty also depicts how a chicken metaphor highlights culinary apprehensions in India. Sneha’s mother prevents her daughter from consuming chicken prepared at a classmate’s Christian household, but the father doesn’t hesitate to gobble chicken while drinking alcohol. Meanwhile, Sofia’s mother prefers buying chicken from a particular shop, as the shopkeeper doesn’t kill in the name of God. These are the minute details illustrating the subtle ways in which food and cultural habits reflect biases and contradictions in contemporary Indian society. In the village, the performed rituals are similar to those shown in Koli Taal, except that the characters’ don’t honor their forefathers.

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Swaroop Yashwanth’s camera is lyrically beautiful in Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa, capturing the contrast between modernity and the countryside. Shetty, as an editor, constructs a rhythmically moving structure, while subtle sound design by Vithor Moraes enhances the acoustics of banal, everyday life to bring alive the entire ambience. As Sneha, Kundapura conveys the needed dose of innocence and stiffness with energy and spontaneity. Plus, Kunder and Ramachandra naturally embody a village couple indulging in the obstinate behavior of their granddaughter, while the rest of the supporting cast enhances the film’s authenticity. With Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa, Shetty gracefully explores the peculiarities of human relationships and the ironies of daily life in India, wherein the contemporary urban existence often stands at a crossroads with ancient traditions.

Dipankar Sarkar (@Dipankar_Tezpur) is a graduate in film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India and currently based in Mumbai. As a freelancer, he frequently contributes to various Indian publications on cinema-related topics.

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