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Virtue of Crookedness

 


When someone put up a spoof on the protagonist of the Drishyam movie in a WhatsApp group of some family members, I commented to ask whether the name of the protagonist has become synonymous with crookedness. One member, whose father’s name is the same as the protagonist’s, took offence. It was then that I wondered whether crookedness was a virtue or a vice.

If crookedness was a vice, the protagonist would not have been celebrated as a hero. He would be a villain. Instead the movie as well as its sequel was a giga-hit in Kerala and its Hindi version was a huge box-office hit too. Both Drishyam 1 and 2 are celebrations of crookedness. So is crookedness a virtue or a vice?

What makes the protagonist an adorable hero to the hundreds of thousands of people who loved the two movies is not his love for his family but his ingeniousness – his crookedness, in plain words. Innocence is adorable in children. But it is fatal in adults. It will destroy adults. That is why even Jesus counsels his followers to be as cunning as the serpents [Mathew 10:16]. Jesus compares ordinary people to wolves. Good people are compared to sheep. Tough to survive if you are a sheep because the wolves are just waiting to pounce on you. Armour yourself with crookedness.

That is just what the protagonist of the Drishyam movies does. If you think he is a hero, as the vast majority of Malayalis obviously did, you will have to admit that crookedness is a virtue. And if I say that you are a crooked person, you should be proud.

Why did a young member in my family react so negatively to my unintended innuendo on his father’s name being a synonym of crookedness? That is the typical hypocrisy of ordinary people, I think. We find it hard to accept crookedness as a virtue because our naïve catechism classes and plebeian morality have placed innocence on the high pedestal. We love to imagine ourselves as the sheep and others as wolves. I belong to the pack of wolves anyway. Beware, I’m ready to pounce.

 

 

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanDecember 13, 2021 at 10:37 PM

    Hari OM
    I have noticed a plethora of so-called entertainments arise on television and film which seem to glorify the character who would once have been called the villain of the piece. A sign of how society has twisted? Certainly addressing the baser instincts of the human race... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 14, 2021 at 6:49 AM

      I'm not an authority on this since I hardly watch TV programs except news. Nor am I a movie buff. But I sense that there is some glorification of negative characters. However, in the movies cited in this post the protagonist had no choice but exercise all the crookedness available. When the state machinery becomes too oppressive, what can an ordinary person do? Succumb or bring into play his skills?

      Delete
  2. parwatisingariDecember 14, 2021 at 11:31 AM

    Interesting. But good and bad are all relative aren't they?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 14, 2021 at 12:00 PM

      Of course. Just look at people arrested on charges of treason, for example. If they possessed a fraction of the crookedness of our politicians, they would be free people today. So what's good, what's evil, in today's India? Fair is foul and foul is fair...

      Delete
    2. Online JournalistDecember 14, 2021 at 3:18 PM

      I also agree with your point, 'fair is foul and foul is fair' now. We see now-a-days even on medias how they glorify criminals and ignore fair ones!
      May be because of the 'kalikala vaibhavam'!

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 14, 2021 at 6:57 PM

      Times are bad and art reflects reality.

      Delete
  3. जितेन्द्र माथुरDecember 14, 2021 at 1:09 PM

    I have seen Drishyam and there's nothing which suggests that the hero can be called a villain. His crookedness is for the sake of survival of himself and his family members who, by applying the principle of natural justice, are innocent by all means. Hence, I agree with you in part. It's not advisable or desirable to be a sheep but being a wolf for the sake of own protection only is acceptable and not for the sake of hurting / eliminating some innocent one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 14, 2021 at 1:58 PM

      Yes, no doubt we shouldn't pounce on others unnecessarily. I gave that conclusion rather provocatively. When my wife read it she burst out laughing and said, You pouncing on others - what a joke!

      Delete
  4. Rajeev MoothedathDecember 18, 2021 at 7:36 PM

    My wife also felt that Drishyam 2 showed the man more as a crook while Drishyam 1 was okay. However, what he has done in both versions is simply to protect his family from the mighty and powerful...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 18, 2021 at 10:29 PM

      Drishyam 2 has too neat a plot to be credible. Nevertheless I enjoyed the movie just for the cleverness in it.

      Delete

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