Vivah
Some movies leave me with conflicted thoughts and Vivah by Suraj Barjatya has been one.
What appealed and at the same time appalled me was what Mr. Barjatya was trying to say… so either my thoughts are convoluted or these times that we live in are… I was trying to brand this movie bourgeois and write it off as yet another one on my ‘why the hell did I watch it???’ list, but some very nice, respectable thoughts and messages kept coming back to me – The thoughts and messages that were no doubt highly relatable to the 90% of Indian population but a lot of it also relatable and learnable by the balance 10%... who think they are ‘modern’ but are hypocrites at the core…!
In the movie a number of explicit references are made about the inappropriateness in the reluctance of people in small towns to have a female child. This message might actually reach and be internalized by the audience who needs to….
But this whole thing about parents ‘finding’ the ‘right’ match gives me creeps. The families claiming ownerships of individuals bruises my sense of identity. The overtly ‘traditional’ ‘conservative’ Indian wedding/families’ thing, though can be attributed to the way of living and thinking of more than 90% of the populace, is not palatable for me. (yup I know! I am the crazy one here!)
The groom’s father mentioning that he does not want a dowry or the entire family accepting the bride even after an unfortunate accident – recognizing it as just that – an accident. These are ideas – or ideals that the society needs to understand today and showing it through films is perhaps the single most effective manner to bring it about…
But then throughout the movie the guy keeps looking for a mother/wife. Never a friend – Unacceptable.
However I think what psyched me the most was the most popular song in the movie. It means “I have the right” It might not have the same connotation as conveyed by the stark manner of my translation but the Hindi word ‘Haq’ in this respect meant only that to me…. “I have the right” And expectedly the guy keeps repeating this ad-infinitum and the girl keeps repeating her submission. Not once did the girl say that she might also have a right to something….
But maybe Mr.B is just trying to take one step at a time…… There are zillions out there who do not even believe in human rights being bestowed upon a female and I am thinking of equal rights. Quite the other end of the spectrum, isn’t it? Will telling these people to respect women help or tiny hints in entertainers like Vivah will?? Whichever does, Amen!
On a side note however, Mr. Barjatya has taken the caution to recover his money (inclusive of that lost in Main Prem Ki diwani hoon!) by extreme branding done all over the movie by (not so clever) product placement!
2 comments:
My impression after you 'expected' outburst (per your Aai :))) about this movie was that you hated it outright. Glad you saw the silver lining though. :) This is essentially where the strength of the HINDI movies as a mass medium lies...to get the message across albeit wrapped in fluff. ;) Rural India can use more of this.
And now we have parallel branding as well. Didn't they say somewhere recently that the mofussils areas are the new markets? :)
And the less said about submissive women the better. *sigh*
Atleast Poonam is a small town lass...in DCH the 'modern, educated' women were not doing *anything* fruitful to occupy their time except invite eyeballs and ..yes...submit. Dimple was the exception, she was atleast acting. :P:P
well...many people told me its a good film...well...lets see...now i will go and watch it first before reacting on it.
as a screen writer, the first thing that strikes me while watching any film is A STORY! and now a days 99.99% films don't have stories. that puts me off. and i am not much fan of Badjatya's style of film making. but now i guess i will watch the film.
take care...tata...kedar...
PS:(marathi blog entry is funny!)
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