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The new movie Manmarziyya celebrate's a woman's imperfection with 'sanskar' having no role to play. Author Maitabi Banerjee writes in praise for the movie.
The new movie Manmarziyya celebrate’s a woman’s imperfection with ‘sanskar‘ having no role to play. Author Maitabi Banerjee writes in praise for the movie.
Haye yeh…. Manmarziyaan!
I am not a Anurag Kashyap fan, and I seldom connect to his movies. But, Manmarziyaan intrigued me since I watched it’s trailer for the first time. I kind of like stories where I get to see the nuances of convoluted tales of the heart. And, I knew it was one of those.
I won’t dwell much on the plot. It is a story that has been told several times before. I hear Manmarziyaan is based on the love triangle of Amrita Pritam, Sahir Ludhianvi and Imroz. Again, these are a few people from the bygone era whom I have followed rather closely. And, if this doesn’t ring the bell, think about ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and you would know what I mean.
But, Maanmarziyaan has something else that I rarely see in movies. An unapologetic portrayal of ‘Rumi’, a young girl, effervescently essayed by Taapsee Pannu. Rumi is in love with the ungentlemanly Vicky (Vicky Kaushal). She screams, loathes, swears, drinks, smokes, and yet has her heart in place. She loves, and loves him to death. The family knows. They worry, but they also love her for what she is. There is no melodrama to make the ‘beti’ sanskaari.
Interestingly, the family is not even against her getting married to Vicky. ‘Yehi Rumi ki marzi hai’, they say every time the girl slumps, and professes her love for Vicky. Even though the family knows the ‘not so responsible’ Vicky, yet they never try to push Rumi to marry Robbie (Abhishek Bachchan), a saintly, perfect gentleman. They accept Rumi and her choices. Morality and parivar ki izzat for once was rested well!
Also, Rumi floats back and forth several times and that might make you feel ‘yeh kar kya rahi hai’? But, to me, it is this imperfection of human nature that makes Manmarziyan what it is. Imperfection in choosing a man who she knows is not responsible, yet loves him. Imperfection when she deliberately keeps the price tag in her nighty during her honeymoon. She doesn’t bother. All she wants is to make her ex jealous. Imperfection in daring to tell Robbie the night before marriage that she can’t marry him. And, many more.
Perhaps. Anurag Kashyap quite literally thrives on these imperfections, vulnerabilities, desperations of love, and churns out a story of a difficult and knotty woman’s heart that hasn’t been told before. You may see a bit of Geet from Jab We Met or Rani from Queen, but still Rumi remains unique in many ways. It is an out and out Taapsee Pannu flick. And she aces it like never before. Mind you, it is not about showing the world a liberated woman alone – rather it is more about accepting their imperfection in its full glory.
This is revolutionary.
After a long time, Manmarziyaan has songs which tells more than the screenplay. They recite verses of love better than the spoken words, and so brilliantly, I tell you. ‘Saachi Mohabbat’, ‘Daryaa’, ‘Cooch Ladhiyaan’ and ‘Jaisi Teri Marzi’ being absolute favourites. Amit Trivedi just proved yet again that Punjabi songs are much more than dhol and loud bhangra beats. It’s Lovely.
Some amazing dialogues. But one that I would quote here, when Robbie says to Rumi, “Vicky ko takat tumse milti hai. You empower him.” And, how beautiful is this? Women do empower men in more ways than one. It has been there all along. But seldom we hear it being said aloud. Heartwarming!
And, then the last scene, the long twelve odd mins walk. A touch of a director’s brilliance there, to pull off such an important juncture with just two broken hearts walking through the bylanes and trying to mend it somewhere, somehow. Bachchan and Tapasee just nail it effortlessly. Mr. Kashyap thanks for reminding us that a lot can happen over a walk too.
Well, Manmarziyaan is like one of those delicacies with acquired taste. You may not savour it in the first go. But, with time, it simmers, and simmers to stay and linger around.
And, then you say… haye, yeh Manmarziyaan!
An avid reader, a blogger, a book reviewer, a freelancer writer and an aspiring author. She has an opinion about everything around. And through her writings she reaches out to the world. A mother of read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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