Firstly, Is “immature”
a bad word? Not necessarily. Among its many meanings, it also means- tender,
young, inexperienced, etc. Now, that explains the heading of this post, which intends
to ask- Is Shudh Desi Romance (SDR), a film for the restlessly young
& genuinely confused or is it simply a bad film??
By the time I got to
see Shudh Desi Romance (SDR), almost all the people around me had seen it and
had unanimously hated it. None of them said the film was, “ok” or a “one time
watch type”. They simply said, “Don’t watch! Its Bad!”
But being a Jaideep
Sahni (Writer) fan since his Khosla ka Ghosla days, I had to watch it and find
out what precisely could have gone so wrong. To my surprise I kind of realized-
nothing much really… except may be- “audience reaction!”
SDR is a story of 3
people. 3 people, who’s characters are well defined and well explored. We see
them at their best and their worst and that’s what made the film interesting
for me. They seemed very real and believable. In fact, the only thing that they
did not seem was- conventional film characters!!
There is- Raghu, a street smart, high
energy, charming boy, perpetually petrified of “commitment” & thus of “marriage”.
We learn about this in the first scene-
Loud & Clear!
One night on his way to
his ‘own’
marriage, he meets- Gayatri,
a new age girl with all her – so called- ultra modern traits (Chain smoking, Boyfriend hoping…) but
still harboring dreams deep within that girls all over the world unanimously
want to come true. In the morning, Raghu runs away from his marriage just
before the “varmalas” are to be
exchanged leaving behind- his wife to be- Tara-
the most poised of the three who seems to be in control but who, in fact, is
the most vulnerable of them all!!
The stage is set and
the film begins…
To complete the context
of the message, there is Goyalji
(Rishi Kapoor), the “elder” who
symbolizes quiet simply the “society” around us, “our peers”, “our parents”,
“our friends”, “our very own thoughts”!! etc…
He may not be too
interfering but he is very- smartly- judgmental. Every once in a while he shall
slip in an advice- “Tumhare bhale ke
liye” of course! And he constantly lurks around, very subtly yet distinctly
exerting influence on the events that unfold- just like most things in and
around us!
Now all that follows in
the narrative is driven by the kind of people these individuals are. They get
physically attracted and when they do, they don’t hold back. Now this could
seem excessive but what if they are like this coz may be they are trying to
prove a point, they are trying to fit in, in the forward seeming world they are
told exists out there! For don’t forget why this story is set in a place that
it is- a satellite city! Had it been in a more exposed and aware place like a
metropolis they would have behaved differently. However, no matter how brave
and forward they would want to seem now, they are yet not sure of their own
feelings! They are defensive… yet humane.
Throughout the film,
there are justifications for their actions. However, these are not thrust upon
you explicitly. They are placed very casually all over. And that could well
have been their undoing. Having missed these justifications & clarifications,
their behavior may seem frustrating.
Some people have found
it unconvincing to believe that a strong & beautiful girl like Tara would
fall in love with Raghu- a guy who left her at the altar! But the fact that Tara
is not strong at all and is in fact quiet vulnerable is made ample clear when
we realize that instead of achieving her dream to become an air hostess she has
settled for simply watching planes fly, by regularly visiting the airport!! And we are expecting her to stay away from him just because she "looks" beautiful then it exposes our shallowness much more than the bizarreness of her act!
Gayatri’s true self is
evident too when she asks Raghu to move out of her apartment just a night after
she has agreed to him moving in with her and has had sex with him.
All in all, SDR is a
film about young people who seek love ferociously but have no idea how or what
it looks like. Their hesitancy to commit is spelled out thoroughly when Raghu
sums it up at the end of the film.
“I stayed with you
willfully in your house…”, he says to Gayatri, “…the door was always open and I
could have left anytime but I never ever felt like leaving. But marriage makes
it feel as if the door is going to be locked forever and it feels
claustrophobic!”
Now you may agree with Raghu
or Gayatri or Tara or you may completely disagree. The fact is that there is a
reason why they are behaving in a manner that they are. What makes the viewing
experience pathetic is that their plight is genuine and pathetic. Its not a
very happy place to be.
But a place like that
does exist and the truth is we are all aware of some such place or its
whereabouts. There is no malice amongst these people. There is no deceit…. The
only term one may label them with, thus, may be- “Immature”
As such to feel this film and its characters one needs to touch that chord of immaturity within…
once that chord is touched may be… Shudh Desi Romance may seem a far more
mature film in the matter that it tries to handle… definitely not a bad film. Coz its far from it.
