Thappad

The movie is not for everyone, not everyone will appreciate it. But it was perfect.
It was not about women empowerment. Not really. It's just what women are simply expected to be. It was not about that slap she got. If it was then she would have started a revolution. She would have included her maid in her fight. Hell some might think why she didn't react when her maid got hit so many times by her husband but she didn't say anything. But it was not.
The movie can't really be explained. You either understand it. Or you don't. Either you love it or you don't think it makes any sense at all. There is no halfway.

'Par? Nahi maar sakta'. The conviction with which Taapsee Pannu uttered these words got me in double mind about this movie. I wasn't sure if it would be a one-sided tale of the current version of feminist thought or a nuanced take on the domestic abuse and more importantly a successful overthrowing of entitlement. When I finally watched it, thankfully, it turned out to be the later.

The movie grabbed my attention just as it started. The use of an ice cream dolly to open about four story threads in parallel catering to different strata of society was one of the best movie openings I have seen. The director wants his story to be universal. That he does not want it to be the story of a family but rather a tale of typical household psyche transcending classes and educational qualifications. It would have been very hard to weave these stories giving them proper importance later and hence starting them all together was a stroke of a genius.

Having said that, it is still primarily the story of Taapsee. She plays a character of Amrita. She is well educated, comes from a liberal and modern family. She is married to Vikram, played by Pavail Gulati. Vikram is at a very high position in the office and is keenly looking for a transfer to London to oversee operations there. Amrita voluntarily chooses to stay at home and finds happiness in taking care of her husband and in-laws and builds her life keeping them as central pillars of her existence. When the titular slap comes to be in the film, she starts to think deeply about her lifestyle, her choices of staying at home and is it right for her to be taken for granted.

The trailer makes everything clear as daylight. There are no spoilers here. You know while going in what to expect. The success of the film is in the pace and attention to the details. There are moments where the film could have become flashy, but it restricts itself and remains close to the topic. It becomes almost introspective at times. The aftermath of the slap slowly unfolds. It's not a decision taken in haste. It's not a knee jerk reaction. She thinks about it for a while. And it's not just her. The family is seeing her distraught and that fills them with a foreboding. As an audience, we are given time to introspect and form a stance. Time and again characters tell her to let go because it's just a slap. Probably, at the instant when it happens, considering the buildup to the scene, a significant percentage of the audience might also think the same.

It's the challenge for the director to show a believable build-up to the slap without painting the male lead in pure black. It is easy to dismiss a narrative when we can disassociate a character from ourselves. It's easy to say, he's wrong here, he's bad. Then we distance ourself from him and it's easy to condemn his actions. It's tough however when the person is not your usual wife-beating abuser. You can't write him off any longer. Yet, he has done a deplorable act. And Taapsee in all her sincere conviction is asking you, 'Par, nahi maar sakta'. From this, the director needs to take you to a point where you understand the thought behind her decisions. Then you are more equipped to pass judgement.

While telling this fairly non - glamorous main story, we are also presented with archetypal variations across classes. We are also shown a strong-willed single mother living just next door, reminding us that the change is not that far away. It's around us. We coexist with both ends of the spectrum. Where then you find yourself? Will you now stand with Amrita? Is her decision still so outrageous now?

The next bit is the attention to detail. How can a girl like Amrita, who has almost dissolved her individuality in the house of Sabharwals, suddenly take such a drastic step? Despite the gravity of injustice, what gives her the strength and conviction to follow through? Kumud Mishra. I usually like his work very much and even here he does not disappoint. He portrays Amrita's father. An open-minded, affable person but with a strong moral character. He is the force behind her courage. Amrita has seen her father respecting her mother. Sharing small household chores and even affably making tea mocking her mother's way of over-boiling tea leaves. Amrita comes from this egalitarian household, and that slap makes her realize how drastically different lifestyle she is living now. It is her upbringing and the same moral character that she has got from her father helps her in this troubled time to follow through her decision.

The movie worked for me for these reasons and additionally Taapsee's down to earth yet the convincing portrayal of Amrita. She embodies the nerve of Amrita very well and blends well with the character. The moments she is aghast after the event are just so heartfelt. Her sudden high energy bout of rearranging the living room in the dead of the night with intense agitation perfectly conveys her inner turbulence.

I liked almost all the actors in the film, the casting was brilliant, from the bubbly and frank maid Geetika Vidya Ohlyan to both the mothers, the casting truly gave justice to the need. Maya Sarao's advocate Netra Jaisingh felt a bit underwhelming among the other stalwarts of acting.

There aren't many songs in the film, but one which remained in my mind much after the movie ended was Ek Tukda Dhoop. The style reminded me so much of works of Amit Trivedi, it is a beautiful rendition. Raghav Chaitanya's voice, although soothing, started me thinking where did all the deep-voiced singers have gone? Closest I can currently recollect would be Papon in Khumar, but even that is not deep enough. But more on that sometime later.

Overall, the movie worked for me. Giving due credit to the performances and story, I guess the lasting impression was that how the story was told without broad generic strokes of good and bad, but enough emphasis was given on how the characters were the product of the society and the times they live in, and that, it is always possible to change if you have courage without blaming or vilifying your ideological adversaries.

Tapsee Pannu is brilliant. Writing is good.

Tapsee Pannu back at it again with the phenomenal acting. I cried through the whole movie, not because it was emotional but because the idea they wanted to convey was so beautiful. I've never been married or slapped but I could relate. It was not about how her husband had no right to slap her, this was about her. full stop. It was about respecting what a woman wanted for herself. it was saying that her happiness was also important. I agree, with Sharanya Nair. You either hate the film or you absolutely love it.

There is a serious flaw in the movie. Even though the messaging and ideas which the film tries to portray is very crucial but the act of slapping, especially how the movie tried to depict the slapping scene doesn't really fit well. When she constantly interfered between him and his friend, he was really unaware by whom he was bieng pulled back. He was intoxicated and had no idea that his wife was pulling him back. At most his act of slapping, which is definitely troublesome, could be said an act of violence, which is irrespective of character.