How I experienced “Tourist Family” by Abishan Jeevinth

I am a doctor doing general practice at a very basic level in a rural community. I see my work more as a human endeavour than a technical or scientific one. Therefore, most of the treatments that is available in our clinic is very basic. More than the technical aspect of medicine, we do a lot of talking, listening, sharing and emoting. I encounter some amazing human beings as part of my work. Suffering and pain bring out the worst as well as the best in people. My little clinic space has witnessed tears, laughter, angry outbursts, temper tantrums, jokes, insults, disgust, empathy, kindness and every possible human emotion there is. I have been writing small stories about these amazing human beings in this blog space. Once, I wrote about a patient, who despite his own poverty, rescued me from potential humiliation by buying a bus ticket for me when he realized that I did not have change. I wrote about a 70 year young man who despite his severe heart ailment took immense pride in his work as a sweet-master and displayed enthusiasm and honor in his work. Yesterday, I met this amazing kind woman who understood so many of my emotions without even me talking about it and showed kindness to me. I am so privileged to meet these brilliant people and be touched by their kindness. I have read about these wonderful people in books, novels and short stories, but I have always wondered why Tamil cinema does not represent them. My question was answered today. I just returned from the cinemas after watching the Tamil movie “Tourist Family” by debutant director Abishan Jeevinth, produced by Million Dollar Studios and MRP Entertainment. I am not a film critique or a good reviewer of movies and so I don’t know to comment on the technicalities of the movie or even the artistic elements. I am here just to write about how the movie made me feel and relate to my everyday experiences in life. 

Throughout the 126 minutes of the movie, I lost all sense of being in a theatre amidst hundreds of others (it was a full house). It was not until the movie was over that I realized that the crowd and the poor quality of air-conditioning in the theatre had made me sweat profusely and my shirt was drenched. No movie has engrossed me in this way in a long time. It was not an edge-of-the-seat thriller. It was not a laugh-out-rolling-on-the-floor comedy. It was not a tear-jerker drama. It was a mild, emotional, relatable, everyday story told in a beautiful manner. Before I went to the movie, I listened to an interview of the young director by a famous film critique. The film critique said that in one of the scenes he felt that the protagonist was glorified too much, and it was not necessary for the story. Reading movie reviews, listening to such promotions and content about the movies online even before seeing the movie, has become a common practice nowadays. I fell prey to this practice. Therefore, when I went to the movies today, I subconsciously looked out for that scene which would over-do the hero glorification. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not find that scene. However, I could understand what the critique was talking about. Spoiler alert – There is a scene where a young man describes his encounters with the protagonist and talks about how the protagonist “saved his life”. This is the scene that the critique felt was overdoing the glorification of the kindness of the hero. It is sad that the critique found this to be an ‘unnecessary glorification’. It is probably because the critique has not come across situations and circumstances like these in their life. I could relate to that scene perfectly and know exactly what the young man who was ‘glorifying’ the protagonist felt and what the protagonist was ‘being glorified’ felt, because I have been on both sides. It was the year 2004. I had finished my MBBS.  I was all of 26 years, full of ambitions and aspirations of making it big in the medical field. I was a very good student. But I kept failing all the competitive exams that would get me into a specialty training course. My life was in a mess. I was in an all-time low and was at the verge of taking a decision to put an end to it all. My teacher, mentor and guru  Dr. K.P. Misra was my guiding light. His kind words, his generous embrace and constant encouragement saw me through those hard times. I have no doubts that the fact that I am alive and working today is because of him. Till recently, I was a teacher in a medical college, and I know of a few young medical students who tell me that I was that warm ray of sunlight during their tough times. These students love me like crazy and will do anything for me. Therefore, when I saw the scene that the critique was talking about, I did not see a ‘over glorification’ of anyone. Instead, I felt I would do the same thing for my hero, Dr. Misra and some of my young friends would do that for me if they had a chance. In fact, I think kindness, compassion and empathy are not celebrated enough. To me this entire movie is a celebration of the sort of kindness that in such imperceptible ways transforms our lives. 

 

The movie is directed by a young man who is less than 25 years old. There is a lot of stereotyping of those born in 2K also referred to as 2K kids. They are perceived as lazy, demanding, entitled, impatient, lacking focus, lacking empathy and emotionally unintelligent. I know these stereotypes to be wrong, as I have seen and worked with some exceptional young people born in the late 1990s and 2000s during my work in the medical college. Abishan Jeevinth has silenced all these stereotypes. I am in awe of how this young man has written such a beautiful story. Some of the things he has written in his story seem like they were written by someone who has lived a long and beautiful life. It is unbelievable that such a young person knows, understands, has observed or lived through so many real-life incidents which are relatable. I am not even going to write about the actors who played various parts in the movie, because I did not see them, I did not see their acting. I saw only the characters. According to me, the story was so brilliant, true and relatable that everything else worked beautifully to fit into it. I am happy that my sister booked tickets for the both of us and took me to this movie. After the movie, we sat quietly in a coffee shop just savoring the warmth of the movie while sipping on some cold coffee. I promised to her that I will surely write about the movie. Thank you Abishan Jeevinth, for making this movie. You gave voice and visuals to something I have always felt – “it is an honor to be amidst such beautiful human beings as one among them!”