This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on October 27, 2019.
Ittymaani: Made in China gets its title from the fact that its protagonist (Mohanlal) is named Ittymaani and he was, well, literally “made in China”, born there to Ittymathan (also Mohanlal) and his wife Theyyamma (Madhuri Braganza as young Theyyamma, K.P.A.C. Lalitha as older Theyyamma). Ittymaani’s grandfather was a famous “duplicate” or “knock-off” maker from Kunnamkulam who was so skilled that he was invited to go to China to teach the Chinese his secrets. His son, Ittymathan, inherited the business (as well as seeming to be involved in the martial arts we see him performing in the movie’s opening song), and Ittymaani spent the first ten years of his life there (with Niranjan Kannan as young Ittymanni), before moving back to Kunnamkulam with his parents. Ittymathan opened a Chinese catering business as well as carrying on the family “duplicate” tradition. After he passed away, Ittymaani took over both the businesses, and although the catering business isn’t doing well, Ittymaani’s company survives making things like “Rux” soap and “Forlicks” drinking powder.
Ittymaani also does a business in taking “commissions” – I’ll confess that I’m not sure how this really works, and Ittymaani speaks of it as a kind of Malayalee tradition that makes him feel better than if he’d just been given a discount on something – at any rate, the whole business of commissions becomes important to remember as the film progresses. Essentially, what you need to know about Ittymaani is that he runs a slightly shady business, but really does have a good heart, and in the end, that’s all that matters, right? Well, that, and how he chooses to spend those “commissions” he earns, which is only revealed to us at the end of the film.
Ittymaani and Theyyamma have a neighbour, Plamoottil Annamma (Raadhika) – Ittymaani calls her “Aunty”, but considers her a second mother, and she and his own mother are as close as sisters. Annamma has three children (who are all married), but they and their families never visit her, never take the time to come home to observe their father’s death anniversary, never turn up for a holiday, leaving Annamma perpetually sad. When she suffers a heart attack, it’s Ittymaani and his mother who go with her to the hospital, and it’s Ittymaani who calls her children, only to have them tell him they’ve had a Christmas getaway booked, and they’ll send him money to deal with the hospital bills, and come when they’re done vacationing.
As you may have realized, Annamma’s children are less than lovely people. They only get worse as the film goes on. Annamma despairs, but she, Theyyamma and Ittymaani come up with a plan – they’ll get the attention of Annamma’s family, and shake them up a little bit, by pretending that Annamma and Ittymaani have gotten married.
This plot development was hinted at early on in the film – Ittymaani, despairing of ever getting married, teases his mother that he should marry Annamma. In fact, I wondered when this happened whether we were being set up for something later in the film, and I wasn’t wrong. In the meantime, Ittymaani goes on his habitual bride-seeing, during which he meets Jessy Pothen (Honey Rose) – via video call, because she hasn’t managed to make it back home from London for the meeting. The two seem to hit it off, the marriage is arranged, but true to form, Ittymaani tries to arrange a commission on the dowry price (wanting to take a cut of the matchmaker’s commission as a commission of his own), infuriating the matchmaker enough that he goes back to Jessy’s brother Joji Pothen (Hareesh Kanaran), and “unmakes” the marriage. Joji doesn’t leave it there, though – using the fact that everyone knows Ittymaani is in the business of “duplicates”, he bribes the man making the bell that Ittymaani has arranged for the church into doing a shoddy job, so that when the bell is inaugurated it promptly breaks, causing Ittymaani to be turned out of the church committee. He’s reinstated when, by chance, the new parish priest, Father John Paul (Siddique), turns out to be a man Ittymaani went through alchoholic rehab with. Ittymaani: Made in China Lesson Number one: it always pays to have the goods on the parish priest.
It’s not far-fetched to assume that the role of fake or “duplicate” husband to Annamma is a role that Ittymaani is perfect for, and he plays it with some degree of relish, causing Annamma’s family considerable annoyance, as they try to find ways to get him out of their mother’s life and house. One of the problems with the film, though, is that Annamma’s children are not just busy and neglectful, in need of a bit of a lesson that will give them some redemption. No, Annamma’s children are truly awful, vile people. It becomes quickly apparent that what they are most concerned about is not their mother’s health and welfare – no, what they are most interested in is her money, and they spend more time with a lawyer trying to find ways to “teach that old hag a lesson”, rather than truly engaging with their mother. Their final redemption is just too pat for me to accept, no matter what important lesson the film felt it needed to impart.
The other problem I had watching the film is that I couldn’t get past two things: one, the way older women are talked about (Annamma is compared to a car several times, both to make sure we realize she’s an “old model” and that she’s got some “mileage” on her.) But what really was a sticking point for me was the fact that Raadhika is actually three years younger than Mohanlal (and that Honey Rose is actually young enough to be his daughter – in fact, she’s a year younger than Mohanlal’s son, Pranav). I know that I’m supposed to remember that the character Annamma is supposed to be Ittymaani’s mother’s age, and that I’m supposed to assume that Ittymaani is supposed to be younger than the actor playing him, but I’ve reached the point where it’s harder and harder for me to suspend disbelief like that – especially when I can’t help but wish there had been a version of this film in which a relationship could form between two middle-aged characters. But that is not this film, and this film made me deeply uncomfortable.
On the other hand, when the film started its promotions, I was worried about the whole “China” connection, because Indian films in general don’t have a good track record with Chinese representation — remember the child referred to as “ching chong” in Vicky Donor? And let’s not forget much of Chandni Chowk to China. The Chinese connection is limited pretty much to one song at the film’s opening, which is supposed to give us a taste of the life of Ittymathan’s family while they were in China, and in which the most egrigious offender is Mohanlal’s awful wig. Ittymaani and Theyyamma occasionally slip into what I assume is supposed to be Mandarin, and when Theyyamma wants a pick-me-up, she watches a Jackie Chan movie, telling her son that the Hong Kong martial arts star reminds her of her late husband.
It is interesting to me, though, that a movie with a China connection, however tenuous, made me think about Lunar New Year movies, which (although they are also produced on the mainland and in Taiwan) are an institution in Hong Kong cinema. Designed specifically for release during the Lunar New Year festival, the films are generally aimed at families looking for a bit of New Year’s entertainment. They’re often very silly comedies, and are just generally designed to be fluffy fun, albeit with a side of New Year’s messaging about the values of love and hope and family. If you’re going to give me an All’s Well End’s Well (probably the most famous series in the LNY genre) – and if you’re going to give me Donnie Yen as a washed up singer and Louis Koo as a love expert, well, just sign me up right now. I might not be able to totally appreciate the nostalgia in the same way that a Hongkonger would (especially in a film like Fantasia, filled with Cantonese cinema references), but I understand the spirit of these films and can appreciate the kind of escapist experience they’re trying to give audiences.
And, once again, Savithri Sreedaran and Sarasa Balussery almost steal the movie out from under the star.
And Ittymaani: Made in China is a film in the same kind of vein – clearly designed for the Onam holiday in Kerala, a film to let families go out and enjoy a silly bit of fun together, and take home a message about the importance of mothers and the duty one has to aging parents, all wrapped up in a colourful package. Yes, much of the humour is silly, some of it is occasionally funny (I’ll confess, the lapsed Catholic in me laughed when Father John Paul asked a kind of good-for-nothing parishoner if his name was “Varkey”, and when Varkey (Salim Kumar) wonders how the priest could know that, the response is “There’s always a guy like you in every parish, and they’re always named “Varkey”.”). Ittymaani himself is shown to be a devoted son who is also devoted to making sure other people’s mothers are cared for and respected as well. And yes, if you’re thinking I’m being too generous to the film, you’re probably right, because the film does have deep problems with how it presents women, especially older women, even as it tells us we’re supposed to respect them. As a holiday movie, Ittymaani: Made in China hits some of the right notes, but it’s the sour notes in its repertoire (a tired Nivin Pauly joke, a #MeToo joke, a woman who falsely accuses a man of sexual assault, the language used around describing women, and the fact that everyone in this film seems to find the idea of a widow remarrying deeply offensive) that serve to sink it, in the end, undoing whatever good-hearted message it set out to share.