Pic Credit:xcitefun
Bollywood has been concerned with many of the women's issues that have put India on the map. This is one review I had been craving to write, perhaps more than even Finding Fanny (which was a great film- more Woody Allen style, but the critique of that film can wait, I think). As a huge Bollywood and Aditya Roy Kapoor fan, I was keenly awaiting the release of Dawat-e-Ishq (Feast of Love, 2014). Thinking it was going to be the typical rosy-Bollywood love story, I had no idea that there would be a surprise of the social message that film aspired towards in its content.
Pic Credit: boxofficecapsule
Directed by Habib Faisal and produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Chopra banner, right from the start, the film begins with a comical scene. Gullu (Parineeti Chopra), a motherless middle class Indian woman raised by her father (Anupam Kher), Gullu aspires to become someone. However, she constantly comes across dowry-seeking men who try to use marriage as an economic transaction to pursue their career and dreams. Gullu dreams of leaving Hyderabad and migrating to the United States so that she can become a well-known fashion designer.
The film speaks of the lives of Indian Muslims, which is a community least represented in Indian popular culture. Perhaps, the most endearing and poignant representation was in M.S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (Hot Winds, 1973) who are trying to adjust living in post-Partition India. The film honors and respects their colorful culture.
pic credit: Indianexpress
Now, lets focus on the crux of the issue that this film seeks to unpack. It speaks about the age-old problem that has plagued India for centuries - dowry! My late grandfather too used to write plays in Hindi about the issue writing about women who are empowered and stand for what they believe in. Here, too, Gullu does exactly that even for Amjad (Karan Wahi), a man she briefly sees before his family demand an atrocious amount of money for his further MBA studies in America. She walks out on him finally coming with a scheme to trick these dowry-hungry families and trick them into giving money and later accusing them using the Indian law 498a, which punishes families for asking for dowry.
While I won't give away what happens during the course of the film, the film addresses many salient points that are relevant to India's modern reality for Indians. The issue of dowry coupled with the status of women whose lives are determined by the economic status of their families often limits them from becoming someone or pursuing their dreams. While Gullu (in a true Yash Chopra style) is of course lucky in love and meets a man, Tariq (Aditya Roy Kapoor) who wants to marry for love and even helps her with the dowry.
No comments:
Post a Comment