Which is the biggest culprit – Image, Money, Hunger?

What is the most needed in this life, if at all you don’t want to cut it short?

Without it, survival becomes an ordeal, pushing individuals to unimaginable extremes. This truth resonates universally, cutting across time, cultures, and stories.

No, it’s not money, fame or image, it’s the trivial hunger and the food — a loaf of bread.

Years ago, I watched Malèna, an Italian film set during World War II. Initially, I was drawn to the movie for reasons typical of youth, captivated by its aesthetics and allure. But as I watched it again and again, I began to see its deeper, painful narrative.

The protagonist, Malèna, is a stunningly beautiful woman whose husband goes off to war, leaving her behind. The society she lives in, deeply envies her beauty.

When there is no news of her husband from the war side, she is left alone to fend for herself. Her beauty, once admired, becomes her curse, as the village people, especially the ladies decide to teach her a lesson, considering she will lure their husbands to her. She had to face a brutal public humiliation.

Despite that, the hunger won’t let her live like that, she had to give in and let people come and devour her because of her hunger.

In one such scene, a man, I think from the legal department visits her with food. As he leers at her, she gives in herself to his advances, trading her dignity.

The man says, “I can come every Thursday”, where she responds saying, “as long as you bring the food.” This one dialogue made us think how worst the hunger is. How it makes us helpless and put us in such humiliating situation.

She bears everything in just one hope that her husband might someday return.

This struggle is not unique to Malèna. Same resonated in the iconic Bollywood film “Mother India”. There, the heroine Radha, abandoned by her husband after he loses his hands in an accident, is left to raise her children amidst crushing poverty.

Her battle to provide food for her family, puts her in dehumanizing challenges.

A song from the film saying –

“Duniya me hum aaye hain to jeena hi padega,

Jeevan hai agar zahar to peena hi padega.”

“Since we have come into this world, we must live,

Even if life is poison, we must endure it.”

No one dreams of becoming a thief, but starvation often leaves no other choice. Hunger is a silent predator, capable of reducing humanity to its barest, most desperate form.

These stories highlight a harsh truth: hunger strips away pride, and morality. When the body is driven by the primal need for sustenance, ideals often get crushed.