Super Deluxe: the Indian Pulp Fiction

Let this be very clear. Director Thiagarajan Kumararaja's 'Super Deluxe' is not Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction.' The latter was a film that came out in 1994 and was considered to be 'a great film about nothing in particular'- the former came out in 2019 and is 'a great film about everything in particular.' Pulp Fiction aged really well and turned out to be a cult classic about 'many things', Super Deluxe is bound to build that status for itself with time and it might go on to be considered a cult classic about 'perhaps nothing.' And that makes both the films some kind of remotely related identical cousins of each other. If that sounds weird to you, then I think you haven't really gotten used to the films. 

 

Both the films have been built from a similar mould. Multiple character ensemble. Genre-defying. Parallel storylines. Crude dialogue. Lot of local travel. And of course, the considerable length of the film. 

The opening credits begin with only voices. Vaembu's conversation with zero video reminds you of the Pumpkin- Honey Bunny talk in the opening credits of Pulp Fiction. Her old boyfriend's death on the bed is as unexpected as Marvin's death by being shot in the face by Vega.  

Vincent and Jules trying to 'manage' the dead body in the backseat of the car is analogous to Mugil and Vaembu trying to do the same- without the blood fortunately. The horny cop Berlin seems to be the indigenous version of the masochistic cop played by Peter Greene as he asks to 'Bring out the Gimp.' What happens to him is way more brutal than what little boy Rasakutty goes through in the gents washroom. Swords are sharper than zippers for sure.

The cool shades-bearing gangsters adorn both the movies. Saying your own innovative prayers is another similarity (Jules reciting the Ezekiel 25: 17 and Arputham's recitals to the stone are both well-written parts that feel like legitimate prayers). 

I remember when I saw Pulp Fiction, I couldn't get my eyes off the watch held by Christopher Walken and in Super Deluxe Fahadh Faasil's fluorescent green watch does a similar trick. It seems unimportant but turns out to be a great aesthetic element.

The broken black TV seems to be a thread that holds the ensemble together to an inanimate central object. Something that the mysterious black briefcase does in Pulp Fiction. And it would be a stretch if I relate Uma Thurman's 'almost dead due to drugs but saved' scene with 'almost dead due to poisoned milk but saved' scene featuring the 3 tv-seeking boys of Super Deluxe.

Finally, both the films arrive as great concoctions of originality and reproduction of pre-existing elements of pop culture. The plethora of Star Wars references (even the Indian rendition of the theme as the mattress falls) and numerous references to films shows the love for cinema that both the directors have. Dick Dale's 'Misirlou' is like Bappi Lahiri's 'Disco Dancer' here. 

I know that by only comparing the two films we are undermining the several issues that they talk about. Super Deluxe brings about a conversation on taboo topics right from the institution of marriage, sexuality, religion to human evolution and so much more. But that will need a separate post, Dei!

-Vikram Grewal

24-08-2020     

         

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