The land that time forgot
Outsiders often puzzle over Malayalis named ‘Lenin’ or ‘Stalin’ decades after the fall of communism. The Communist Party has been popular in Kerala for decades, which led to economic stagnation and a brain drain to climes like Muscat and Houston.
A friend of a friend is now finishing up a film about the phenomenon called My Good Name Is Stalin. Besides showing a Cuban-style time capsule, earnest men and adorable little girls explain that ‘Khrushchev’ and ‘Valentina‘ aren’t hindrances in their village, and in fact can mask Hindu caste identity. Here’s the trailer:
Stylistically, if not economically, parts of God’s own country look like the land that time forgot.
on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008, 8:39 am in Politics, Video clips › 
Email this
› 
Facebook this
› 
Reddit this
› Link
› Reader links
Fun - but am I the only one who finds the use of Kajra Re as background music rather jarring?
Very adorable.
i found the whole thing creepy. communist parents naming their kids after famous soviets.
Because it’s happy, or because it’s Hindi?
Hi guys,
Thanks to Manish for blogging this and to you guys for checking it out!
My Good Name Is Stalin is very much a work in progress, so we threw Kajra Re in as ’slug’ music while we await the arrival of some Malayalam Communist-themed tracks from back in the day. Stay tuned for a new version in the coming months…
*Please do not let the fact that I am reading this censor you - feedback is much desired, and our filimaker egos are iron-clad enough to take what you’ve got : )
Jarring because it’s rather more brash, contemporary and North Indian ;) I’d love to hear the Malayalam communist-themed tracks from back in the day - is there a version of the Internationale? That would rock.
I’d love to get to see this when it’s finished.
Not to be overly reductive (but I guess I’ll take the chance): it’s hard (for me) not to want to view the “economic stagnation” situation through the eyes of members of the absolute lowest economic strata. Would you rather be well educated, have good health care, and then be forced to go to Muscat or Abu Dhabi (or nowadays maybe AP?) to get work, or to live in a state with major economic growth engines and hope that some economic benefits will trickle down to your corner of the gutter? I know Kerala isn’t the absolute Utopia it can be painted to be, and it’s good to look at it from all angles. I’d have to say that if I had the misfortune of being born dirt-poor and of African origin, I’d probably prefer to be born in Cuba than in the Bronx. But maybe that’s just me. Or to be less reactionary, let’s say maybe I’d rather be born poor in Havana than Bogota.
It’ll be interesting to see how things change overtime with the continued heating up of the economy throughout the country, but it’s worth remembering that Kerala was embarking on its social spending “experiments” decades ago when the economic sector nationwide was arguably fairly moribund.
Particularly (and amusingly) dissonant was one of the ladies (at 1:08) wearing a banner that presumably reads Anastasia (you can only see the “Anas”) , the last great hope to restore the glory of the Tsars and defeat communism.
Loved the trailer. This trend can be seen in neighboring Tamil Nadu as well. The heir apparent in the DMK (ruling party in TN) is M.K.Stalin. There is an award winning film editor named Lenin. In my mom’s village there was a guy named Russia who in turn named his son ‘Swiss’ (?!).
Both. Besides it is so blatantly north indian song. It is kind of like playing Italian music for a documentary of Germany and Bavaria.
It would be nice improvement to the video when they get the fitting music, as per the filmmaker’s plans.
My uncle (Telugu) is named Lenin (which I thought was an Indian name until I learned about Lenin in history class), and he has a cousin named Stalin. Thanks for the info! I’ll send him the link.
(Also, from what I’ve heard at family gatherings, the name was a bit of a hindrance at job interviews and in dealing with immigration, though he is proud of it.)