The humble ginger biscuit has been a part of every child growing up in suburban Kerala. A big portion of culture lies in the food we consume and the memories connected to these. The stories of returning home from school with a bit of money in the pocket, are littered with these sweet treats from small scale bakeries. The indescribable feeling of taking in the aroma and feeling like a child on Christmas morning are in turn, an indispensable part of life.
Who said that a little sprinkle of magic realism cannot be found along northern Malabar? The little shops that have collectively contributed towards the popularity of baking culture have a lot to tell about themselves. What remains as uncharted territory in the story of these baked goods is, undoubtedly, the hand of the maker that so carefully delivers the exact same zing with every bite. Sudha Padmaja Francis does her honest bit in this aspect.
Undertaking a humongous task of single handily (albeit, with a bit of help) calling to awakening the collective consciousness of a whole generation of people, Ginger Biscuit makes the assignment of searching into your memory, a fruitful task. Baking has already turned out into a mass production industry. With factories that guarantee to sell ‘handmade’ products, there exist quite a lot of people who peddle nostalgia in the form of a packet. Yet, it is not to be forgotten that once, the initial meticulous means of production existed only along the north of Kerala.
Documenting history from below is an important means of reclaiming the dominant narrative and Sudha Padmaja does the same with her depiction of microhistories which would otherwise rest forgotten. Along a two year journey from Kannur, Kozhikode and north Kerala villages, Ginger Biscuit makes a careful note of how marginalized communities became the faces behind the workforce of Kerela, contributing to the steady rise of its bakeries.
A Masters degree holder in Creative Enterprise (Film) from the University of Reading, UK, Sudha Padmaja Francis received the Inlaks – Asia Art Archive Grant in 2022. As a filmmaker, she has been extremely vocal about using all the footage shot during the process of filming as, even uncut and unpolished, it still makes up a hefty portion of the archive, of the process of documentation. In her resolve, she refers to having recorded all of the sound for Ginger Biscuit herself with the help of rented equipment. More than leaning into the imperfect aesthetic, the documentary should be seen as a historical relic, as something that transcends mere singular human life and becomes a part of the consciousness.
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