Let me begin by acknowledging that criticising is much easier than creating. Also whatever I write ahead is based on my own biases, experiences and world view.
So, Mumbai- Pune- Mumbai 3 released yesterday and having waited for it with so much excitement we watched it on the first day itself. I will keep the review per se short. It is simple- amazing cast, top-notch acting, nuanced direction, set designs, costumes almost all technical aspects of film making quite spot on. The dialogs are witty, funny and the comic timing of all the actors is amazing. Three actors in it have my (and almost of all maharashtrians) immense respect namely- Prashant Damle, Rohini Hattangadi and Mukta Barve. All three of them are institutions in themselves.
However the movie seemed stretched, especially the second half could have done with a lot of editing. I am no trained professional and have nothing to do with movie making but as an audience it is the current Marathi movie scene that has improved my understanding of cinema a lot. Having said that, all that I say may be complete bullshit but what's life without bullshitting right? So yes I found the pace of the movie slow and a lot of unnecessary melodrama. Maybe the negatives stood out because of the expectations from the calibre of the director Satish Rajwade and the talented cast and crew.
MPM has become a brand and successful commercial sequels is a novelty not just in Marathi but even Bollywood. So yes, all credit to the people involved. But the essence of the series, especially the first film was the whole Mumbai-Pune debate. Agreed it was always a love story but it stood out because of the thread of this age old debate running through it. The first movie was exceptional- taking place over one single day with just two main actors, wearing the same clothes throughout the film, no villians, no melodrama and kick-ass dialogs, direction and acting. The second one diluted the effect due to increased casting, complexities and lesser Mumbai-Pune stuff. This third one has almost done away with the original thread of the debate. There are hardly a few references and that makes it just a love story between actors having some good chemistry, but we have enough of that already! The climax was super stretched and as a happy ending was very much expected the suspense and drama didn't make much sense.
I am sure it would still be a much appreciated and commercialy successful movie. Now this much was the goodness in me and what comes next is the rant! So beware!
My main issue with the movie is its straight one-sided approach to "procreating". Basically, when the protagonist couple don't want kids they are selfish, lazy, irresponsible and the whole generation is berated along with instant dislike by parents and in-laws accompanied further by tons of emotional blackmail. As soon as the couple is okay with procreating the family dances on their own heads! Suddenly there is an outpouring of love and praise and care. I understand they want to cater to a larger audience and are reflecting what prevails in our society (at least I am sure about the Maharashtrian clan). But shouldn't a movie helmed by an intelligent director with several talented, intelligent people try to move beyond the accepted norm? Can it not be commercial but at the same time thought provoking? Do the makers have so little confidence in their talent that they can't move beyond playing to the gallery?
Coming to this whole procreation hoopla; it boils down to "Live and let live". But then this concept is hardly accepted in our society. What career one must pursue to be labelled successful, the whole fucking definition of success, the concept of happiness and its varied forms, who one should get married to, if one should have kids, how many kids, how many times to change their diapers, which school to send them to, what career should they pursue, who should they get married to, how many times should one ideally poop, pee or sneeze; every single fucking choice is dictated by the society and especially the so-called well-wishers.
I have spoken more on length on this choice thingy in earlier write ups -
Jajwalya abhimaan- (https://snehakarle.blogspot.com/2018/08/jajawalya-abhiman_18.html?m=1)
Dodaddlydo- (https://snehakarle.blogspot.com/2015/07/dodaddlydo.html?m=1 )
Safalta ki vyakhya-
(https://snehakarle.blogspot.com/2016/12/safalta-ki-vyakhya.html?m=1)
Man I am obsessed with "choice"!
I would focus on the procreation topic here. The main thing to understand is having children is a huge, life changing decision and the only people involved in it should be the prospective parents. Even if the whole clan pledges support and help; the ultimate physical, emotional and financial responsibility is on the parents involved. So totally logically if or not to have kids, how many to have and anything else related to their upbringing should be a completely personal decision. Yes, the experience and wisdom of the elders is definitely useful but the word is "guidance" not "do- as- we- tell- you- to- or -you -don't- deserve - to- live - you- pile- of- shit". There are several factors involved in these decisions.
Let us look at some case scenarios-
1) the couple wants a kid and as soon as possible post their wedding.
2) the couple wants a kid out of wed-lock
3) the couple wants a bunch of kids (in a country with no restrictions on it)
4) the couple wants to have a kid or kids but in their own time
5) the couple wants to adopt
6) the couple is undecided
7) the couple wants a kid but are not emotionally and/or financially ready
8) the couple wants a kid but one or both of them has some medical issue
9) the couple wants a kid but they have no support system
10) the couple does not want kids because they are happy and complete as it is
12) the couple does not want kids because of population and environmental concerns
13) any god-damned thing the couple wants
These are the scenarios which I could think of with my limited brain capacity. There can be tons of more scenarios. The point is each of this scenario is valid, there is nothing let me repeat absolutely nothing wrong in any of these scenarios. The couple involved may have a-z reasons on whatever is their decision. Procreation is not the only reason why human-beings are put on Earth and don't we have enough procreating already?!? I am not advocating any one or more of these scenarios; all I am saying is their is no one correct path. No one can know what any person is facing be it parents, siblings or friends. It is only the spouses staying together who understand their situation. Any and all options based on the general flow of the society, what the relatives would say, what their life situation seems to you by interaction and/or through social media are bull, horse, dog, cat, bird, dinosaur shit combined and rotten together.
Coming back to the movie, as stated earlier it glorifies producing kids like a ton of movies before it has be it in any language. It emphasizes and keeps reiterating the generally accepted social stand on procreation. Again like I said before, one can have a commercial movie without pandering to the majority view. Take Muramba for example- it was a commercialy successful Marathi movie made for a family audience with both young and old artists but despite of all of it; the movie was bold enough to put premarital sex in it. It portrayed a relationship between the protagonists in the manner it is closest to today's youngsters. ( Check my review of Muramba here- https://snehakarle.blogspot.com/2017/06/muramba-movie-review.html?m=1)
There are many more such examples from the modern Marathi cinema landscape. Bollywood is way behind compared to the kind of Marathi films that are being made. Maybe I am disappointed because of these increased expectations. Maybe you who is reading this will feel why is a movie such a big deal. But whatever said and done people get influenced by art be it books, music, sculptures, paintings, movies or any other form. The kind of art that dominates a particular period reflects the society of that period as well as influences and shapes it. When the art form is a movie made by a much respected director and having senior influential actors, it has even more responsibility as to what it is saying. MPM3 could for example have shown another couple, a family friend perhaps who are deciding to adopt or not have kids at all and have a discussion about how that too is normal. This is just what my limited brain could think of, I am sure there could have been thousand other ways of doing it. But instead we have a couple who has decided not to have kids at the moment, who are first emotionally blackmailed by none other than the family gynac, who are further lectured on and on by the saas sasur dadi pita mata, looked down on as disappointments and made to change their decision by emotional manipulation. It has definitely made life much more difficult for couples who have decided anything other than the norm.
This was the much watered down version of what I really wanted to say because I can't jot down as many pejoratives as flashed in my brain last night.
No comments:
Post a Comment