Eeb Allay Ooo!
- Director
- Prateek Vats
- Studio
- NaMa Productions
- Release Date
- 17 December 2020
- Running Time
- 97 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
Review
Ric Rodrigues' "Eeb Allay Ooo!" operates in the neorealist tradition of contemporary Indian cinema, crafting an unflinching portrait of urban precarity through the eyes of a young migrant worker whose only asset is his desperation. The film's central premise—a man hired to repel monkeys from government buildings—functions as both literal device and metaphor for the dehumanizing nature of India's informal economy. Unlike more melodramatic examinations of class struggle, the film resists easy sentimentality, instead presenting Anjani's deterioration as a series of small compromises and systemic indignities that accumulate without dramatic fanfare. The tension between the job's constraints—rooted in Hindu religious doctrine prohibiting harm—and the worker's mounting financial desperation creates an intelligent moral framework that distinguishes this from typical poverty narratives.
Where the film truly impresses is in its refusal to offer redemption or resolution. As Anjani abandons his mentor's careful techniques for expedient shortcuts, and subsequently tumbles from contract labor to contract labor, we witness not a character arc but a downward spiral captured with clinical precision. The performances anchor this bleakness without sacrificing humanity; there's no histrionics here, only the quiet resignation of someone watching his circumstances narrow. However, the film's austere aesthetic and thematic heaviness occasionally feel repetitive—the accumulation of small failures,
Storyline
A young man from Bihar recently hired to scare monkeys away from Delhi's government buildings finds himself struggling with the demands of his new position. Anjani works in a role that requires him to drive away primates without causing harm — a constraint rooted in religious reverence — while earning barely enough to support his pregnant sister and her family on the city's outskirts. His modest salary pales in comparison to the financial pressures mounting around him.
As Anjani grapples with his inadequacy at the job, he turns to shortcuts that violate regulations, jeopardizing his employment in the process. His inability to master the vocal techniques his mentor uses so skillfully leaves him desperate to prove his worth, leading him down increasingly problematic paths that ultimately cost him his position.
With his job gone, Anjani enters the precarious world of contract labor, searching frantically for any opportunity that might bring income to his struggling household. The film follows his attempts to navigate Delhi's lower economic strata while confronting the harsh realities of informal work and survival in India's capital.