BENGALURU: Porotta, today, is much more than an emotion for the Malayali community residing in every nook and corner of social media. For Malayalis, #handsoffporotta is a political statement, a symbol of freedom and the voice of dissent. Inarguably the favourite flatbread of every Malayali, the surge in sale of porotta once dine-in services picked up is proof enough of Kerala’s unconditional love for it. Coincidentally, Avenir Technology, a digital entertainment company, has come out with a song dedicated to porotta, ‘I Miss U Daa - Porotta Song’, which depicts how much Malayalis missed the dish during lockdown.
Zia Ul Haq, Sachin Raj and Sudheesh Kumar came up with the concept, composed and sang the track. “When the trio pitched the concept of a porotta song, I was immediately hooked because who says no to porotta? Eating hot and crispy porotta with chicken or beef roast is almost a tradition here and not being able to indulge in our favourite combination during lockdown did get to a lot of us,” says Irshad M Hassan, founder, Avenir Technology.
The song was shot in Avenir’s office premises. “The song has visuals of porotta being made and it being served with piping hot chicken curry. We shot the porotta making scene in a friend’s restaurant. The remaining shots were filmed in our office canteen,” says Irshad. The lyrics were penned by Ramesh Kavil, Akhil Krishna handled the cinematography and Sanraj Amritham directed the song. The video has been viewed more than 49,000 times in just three days.
Due to lockdown restrictions, the team had to put in a lot of effort to film the song. “We used two cameras and a drone for shooting. Since we have a well-equipped technical team, postproduction work was easy. We knew a song about porotta would become an instant hit and the response so far has been terrific,” adds Irshad. It’s mere coincidence that the song and the decision to impose 18 per cent GST on frozen porottas happened at the same time. “Porotta is not a luxury food item to charge GST like this. Keralites won’t agree to this, which is evident on social media,” adds Irshad.The trio and the company are soon planning to come out with ‘Bullet Anthem’. “We are also working on a web series,” says Irshad.