PRAY TO THE THUNDER
by Ananth Subramaniam
In a Tamil town in Malaysia, dominated by an authoritarian priest, Thunder, a rebellious young woman, channels her anger by performing with her punk band on the village stage, normally reserved for the priest’s religious processions. Their music electrifies the youths and stirs the wrath of traditionalists, igniting a confrontation between modernity and superstition. As tensions rise, Thunder discovers a mystical power that threatens to tip this already delicate balance.
Fiercely determined to bring Tamil identity to the forefront of his cinema, Ananth Subramaniam directs multilayered genre films that explore the bonds within his community. After his playful yet political short film Bleat! – featuring a pregnant billygoat and tackling gender expectations as well as generational divides – Pray to Thunder is set in the punk community of a Tamil town. Steeped in mysticism and fantasy, the film places live music front and center, transforming it into a means of resistance against social control, and addresses the survival of a singular identity across generations. With an enduring taste for comedy, Ananth Subramaniam skillfully subverts the clichés deeply embedded in the dominant culture and the persistence of racist stereotypes about Indians. Favouring everyday realism, he seeks to create a space where comedy can flourish in worlds once confined to tragedy.
