Masala Mama

A cinematic tribute to the small kiosks – now almost extinct – that are known in Singapore as ‘mama shops’. In Tamil, the word ‘mama’ means ‘uncle’. Like the film’s director when he was a boy, the young protagonist of this film is a regular customer at one such shop, where he goes to buy comics. The boy comes from a poor family and has no money and so he decides to steal a comic, because he is searching for inspiration for his own superhero story. But then the shop owner and the boy are drawn into a story of their own.