Bhagyaraj's legendary 'moringa' joke, which helped drumstick sales soar in South India

Legendary Tamil actor, writer, and director K Bhagyaraj died on Saturday morning, June 27, at Chennai's Apollo Hospital, following a massive heart attack. He was 73 years old. The genius, whose career spanned decades, is credited with having introduced actress Urvashi and her sister Kalpana to cinema. Urvashi was famously introduced in the 1983 comedy-drama Mundhanai Mudichu, which became a massive blockbuster. At a time when the industry is looking back at the impact of his writing and acting on the masses, many are discussing how even small scenes from his movies had an impact.

A scene that boomed moringa sales!
In the film Mundhanai Mudichu, Urvashi's character Parimala, a village girl who is married to Bhagyaraj's widower character, a schoolteacher, is on the lookout for ways to get him to like her. She learns from a local person that drumsticks are an aphrodisiac and decides to try her luck. She makes a stir-fry, a side-dish gravy, poriyal, another dish with drumstick flowers, and more for him for dinner. Though her husband eats every dish that has drumstick to its brim, he ends up writhing and wriggling on the bed as dishes have a 'moringa overdose.' The scene is still considered an evergreen comedy by the Tamil cinema audience.

Interestingly, after the release of the movie, drumstick sales soared in Tamil Nadu, with many women wanting children buying them en masse! In a 1984 write-up in India Today, Sreedhar Pillai wrote, 'All over the south, drumstick sales are booming. Why? Because of an onscreen romance where a village maid snares a widower schoolteacher into marrying her and then finds that she can't make him take her to bed.'

The truth behind the 'aphrodisiac'
Traditional medicine considers moringa a natural aphrodisiac, but this claim is not supported by clinical trials, according to reports. Regardless, the renowned gastroenterologist and social media personality Dr Pal Manickam says that moringa helps in the following ways:
a) It aids digestion and is a natural antiseptic
b) It's packed with vitamins A, C, calcium, potassium and iron
c) It is rich in antioxidants
d) It is good for liver health
e) It reduces blood pressure and sugar
f) It is good for weight loss and lowers cholesterol

The right quantity of moringa
About half to 1 cup of fresh moringa leaves daily is a good quantity to consume. However, for the best results, it is better to restrict it to 2 to 3 times a week, the doctor says.
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