The hilariously subversive Tamil comedy group Temple Monkeys takes on the culture of kneejerk outrage and hyper-parochialism in Tamil Nadu in its latest video. All the men who feature in Otha Sollaala (In just one word) are from their blockbuster NEET satire I Don’t Neet You, including the actor who played the outraged right-winger who nearly collapsed when he met a Muslim. This time, he is wearing a “Neega Shut Up Punnanga” T-shirt.

The new video has unfortunately been released without subtitles, possibly because of its profanity and also because it is difficult to translate the seemingly extempore reactions of the group of men who express horror at the fact that “Tamil culture is going down the drain.” The men are deeply perturbed about the decline in linguistic standards in Tamil cinema. A heroine who rejects an overture from a hero by calling him “loose” (the Tamil translation of this English world would be immoral) is regarded with shock. A hero who abuses a villain is criticised for his intemperance. The reactions are rendered in mock horror and the choicest of abuses, neatly demonstrating the hypocrisy of self-appointed moral guardians and censors of what can and cannot be said in the movies.

Play
Otha Sollaala.