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Disney + Hotstar’s latest offering Hum Do Hamare Do takes the popular family planning slogan and reimagines the concept of family. Does it work? Read on to find out….
We’ve all seen the logo growing up—the inverted red triangle and an outline sketch of two parents and two children, one of each gender, the benchmark of the “ideal” family in India. This 2021 film, starring an impressive cast of award-winning actors, flips the script on its head and has an adult child creating his family from scratch. It questions the unchallenged bedrock of Indian society: the family—what is it, how it comes about, and what if it could deviate from the norm?
So far, so good.
With actors like Ratna Pathak Shah, Paresh Rawal and Rajkumar Rao, you know you’re in for a treat. Mimi actress Kriti Sanon delivers as well, hemmed-in as she is by her vacuous, limited role. Where the film fails utterly is in its script, more flaccid than a three-day-old bhajiya, and far less palatable.
With its implausible storyline, half-baked backstories and undeveloped character arcs, what could have been a deeply satisfying narrative about older love turns into a circus of banal side plots, OTT extras and painful attempts at humor. Even as the director plants the seed, he utterly fails to water it and bring the film to fruition.
This film could have so much more to offer if it had explored the story arc of the older couple, rather than spotlighting one more young love story. Boy meets girl, random misunderstanding ensues, boy always finds it cute, and three frames later, it’s luuhve. Makes you wonder what it is about a man’s brain that unfailingly draws him toward stupid behavior in a woman and convinces him this is the Real Deal.
Meanwhile, even as we are on this bumpy merry-go-round of a comedy of one too many errors, one can’t help but wonder: what was Purushottam and Dipti’s early story? What made them want to be together? Why did he not show up for her? How did that abandonment redirect the course of her life, and how did she process the pain? What other griefs from other broken relationships do they carry?
Older adults provide such incredible fodder for cinematic exploration, by virtue of having a greater range of lived experiences, emotional depth and rich inner lives. And yet, they have been relegated to has-beens and also-rans by our culture, and by extension, popular media, because of the absurd belief that love and sex are reserved for the young.
And since this well-begun but only half-done film doesn’t call for any further web space, let’s instead revisit five of my favorite older couple narratives in Hindi cinema:
So props to Hum Do Hamare Do’s makers for normalizing romance at every age, but next time around, give us the more interesting love story, even if it doesn’t belong to the zygotes.
Dilnavaz Bamboat's heart occupies prime South Mumbai real estate. The rest of her lives in Silicon Valley, California, where she hikes, reads, hugs redwood trees and raises a pint-sized feminist. She is the read more...
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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