Movie Review : Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Sehna Ise

                                                   

How many times have you watched a movie or read a novel, where a sexy woman is out to "trap" a rich guy? Yes, there exist women who seduce men for money. "Seduce" as in "to cause someone to do something that they would not usually consider doing by being very attractive and difficult to refuse" Let me remind you, confused or not, it's a choice they made!

In Ae Dil Hai Mushkil that choice is made by Ayan, Ranbir Kapoor's character. He finds Lisa played by Lisa Haydon incredibly sexy and is repeatedly shown unable to keep it in his pants. Men can't help indulging in sex at the first sight of a female body, you know! Yet, the fault lies squarely at the door of the woman! 

No, I refuse to use the misleading, sexist expression "femme fatale". It's been used too long to demonize women. It's time we discarded it.  Although the sex is consensual, Lisa is portrayed as vacuous and practically unable to speak. Yet there are allusions to how she's out to get Ayan's money. Now now, Karan Johar, you really need to make up your mind- is she stupid, or is she smart? 

Ayan has no compunctions in kissing and coming on to Alizeh, played by Anushka Sharma. This, the first time he meets her. Obviously, loyalty is not a value he sets great store by. Yet, one act of unfaithfulness by his girlfriend and he dumps her. What was that about sauce for the goose thingy? Forget it! 

Let's be clear, this is the umpteenth movie in which Ranbir Kapoor plays a guy coming of age, and the characters are so cliched you'll be deluged with repeated bouts of deja vu. To confound matters further, Karan Johar is yet to sort out his friendship-versus-love dynamics. Dude, it's 2016. For god's sake, you've done this for twenty-odd years now. Get over it!

Besides, a selfish man-child who refuses to grow up and throws tantrums at the drop of a hat, Ayan expects others to pick up after him. That's our hero, the man you're supposed to root for! Not only does he insist Alizeh fall in love with him, he chases her all around the globe in the effort. She invites him for her wedding and he manages to become the centre of attention there, too! He throws a hissy fit and walks out on the wedding day, making it a memorable day for the bride, indeed! This being Bollywood, however, all is forgiven. Conveniently for Ayan, yet again, Alizeh steps in to pick up after him.

The worst is yet to come, however. Ayan shows his most despicable side when he finds Alizeh struggling alone, dying, and comes on to her! Yes, dear readers, sexual harassment and stalking as love trope is alive and thriving in Bollywood.  

The very frame in which we are introduced to Saba, Aishwarya's character, would have set a million alarm bells ringing for any woman. She's sitting by herself reading a book. Our hero forces himself into her space because he can't sit alone! Where any woman would have called security, Saba smilingly indulges him. Men feel entitled to women's space, time and attention. Men often end violently and horrifically the denial of such attention. This is rape culture and the movie promotes it. 

To attempt to look for feminism in a Karan Johar film is futile, when it doesn't even pass the Bechdel Test. It is peopled with super rich people whose lives run without a hitch. They need not worry where the meals or housing or the education of the next few generations will come from.

You see, I left out Alizeh's character till the end. There really isn't one. We know nothing of who she is, what she does. We vaguely hear of parents, but don't meet hem either. She doesn't seem to have any friends either. Alizeh is another in a long line of women who seem to exist solely for the benefit of the men around her. She also shelves her life to trot all around the globe, wherever her husband's work takes him. Need we tell you, that relationship was doomed from the start? 

Anushka Sharma has put in her considerable acting skills on display, and she comes across as effortless. But I'll repeat my earlier advise to her- make your own goddam movies, Anushka! We want to see well-etched characters, not a sidekick for our hero to hang his emotional towel on, and maybe wipe with. 

Aishwarya looks still, unruffled, and bereft of emotion like a slab of marble just surfaced from under a glacier. She too seems to exist in a vacuum. Although she's portrayed as a no-nonsense person at first, yet she too ends up picking up after Ayan. Such a charmer our boy is. 

Women's work holds up men's world. It's time we gave it a rest.

                                

Film Review: Sultan : Yay For Patriarchy!

                                   

What can be more delusional than a feminist take of a movie starring Salman Khan?

Then again, why should a part of popular culture be exempt from a feminist critique? Hindi films are a major contributor to popular culture and as an avid consumer I assume what I want to watch on screen should count.  

Moreover, our expectations are raised when a movie stars someone like Anushka Sharma , one of a newer generation of empowered women who are turning producers, and are getting more involved behind the scenes 

By way of disclaimers, let me state, I know nothing of movie making, nor am I a professional writer. But I write about Bollywood because as an ordinary woman I want our culture to also be reflection of my dreams.

Sultan is of course a Salman Khan movie all the way, yet it begins promisingly enough. Anushka Sharma's character, Arfaa is an active go-getter. She's a national level athlete in top form and her dream is to win an Olympic gold in wrestling. She beats the crap out of louts, physical violence apparently the only way to send a message to men that a woman means business. But, her fire and ambition last into about a quarter of the movie, or maybe less. She then proceeds to transform into a passive, quiet backdrop. Because, love.

In a crucial scene, where the downslide begins- or the movie shows its true colours, depending on whether you're a Salman Khan fan or not- Arfaa becomes pregnant. Her father, who is also her coach, is shocked by the news and expresses disappointment. The dreams and ambitions she is chasing, aren't hers alone; they have been nurtured by her dad. Arfaa, when she comes out of the clinic after finding out about her pregnancy, is also taken aback and feels betrayed. What is to become of her aspirations?

But then she looks at Sultan, her husband, dancing for joy at the news and she changes her mind about what will bring her true satisfaction: care of family and child rearing, of course. The look of happiness on her husband's face is her gold medal, it seems. Yes, I did look for a wall to bash my head into, but I didn't fancy tripping over a multitude of legs of of my co-viewers to get to it.

Hand on my heart, for a moment during that scene, when she pulls out the Olympic selections form, and glances at it, I held my breath. We are so bereft of women with agency on screen, that I'd probably been projecting at Arfaa for a while. But then her belly grows, and the alternate movie brewing in my head, came to a screeching halt. The one in which Afraa undergoes an abortion and keeps chasing her dreams, doesn't really happen. The realities of Indian cinema are yet to catch up with us silly romantic feminists.

Arfaa is beaten by biology and fades away. Her transformation is accomplished in one knock out punch. Or should that be knocked-up punch? She is transformed into wife, mother, motivator and inspiration for her man. She gives up her career. Reduced, a shell of her former self, all her dreams are transferred to her man.

That's where all meaning in the movie ceases. It becomes solely a vehicle for Salman Khan and he plays the role he's done to death in movie after movie- the golden hearted softie who bashes up people for a living. You could cut open a couple of cartons of viagra and it wouldn't be a patch on holding up dysfunction like this movie holds up masculinity-artificially, saturated with every trope imaginable.

Recently, there was a big brouhaha about a casual remark made by Salman Khan, comparing a punishing work schedule with rape. Interestingly, the remark was made during the promotion of this movie. He was almost crucified for the crass comment, specially on social media. TV panels went into overdrive, criticising him. Yet a movie of this size and impact which thousands have watched and many more will, blithely promotes rape culture but there's nary a peep from any of us. Yay for patriarchy! 

As for the medieval ideas on consent and relationships, the less said the better. Stalking, portrayed as wooing, is old hat for Bollywood. The message, conveyed by Hindi cinema for decades is repeated yet again: a man has only to chase a woman doggedly enough for her to give in to his advances. Consent? What's that? 

Arfaa agrees to friendship, which Sultan misreads as romantic attachment. In his words 'tum bike pe chipak ke sare din mere sath ghoomogi to log to yahi sochenge na ki tum meri girlfriend ho'. It's always about the opinions of the 'log', the village people, the community, the family, but never the person concerned. 

In what follows, Arfaa upbraids him for his delusions, but an opportunity to establish consent as a basis for relationships, is let slip. The assumptions on his part are ignored, the focus brought to bear on his personality. 

Any wonder, then, that Indian men continue to believe that women owe them their time and affections; it is theirs for the asking. Rape culture not only flourishes, it is actively propagated in films like Sultan. 

 The sexism comes thick and fast with "humare yahan aisa nahin hota hai" repeatedly used to stress that people don't get divorced and that marriages last forever. Much like most of Bollywood, women's agency is an alien concept, unheard of. 

For me, most heartbreaking of all was the arc of the narrative and where it leads the two protagonists. Arfaa, a strong, opinionated, ambitious woman is reduced to a shadow, lurking behind the scenes for the major part of the movie, bereft of agency. Sultan, who begins as a bumbling buffoon, transitions in no time, into a world class wrestler, breezing through every competition imaginable. When will our cinema catch up with real life, so we can start attaching our dreams to it? 

I kept wondering throughout, how a smart actress and emerging producer like Anushka, with an admirable body of work to her credit, could agree to do a movie like this. Is it because a star vehicle like this gets you more eyeballs? Maybe that will help her make that alternate movie which was going on in my head. Need new story ideas, Ms Sharma?