Sandhya’s husband of five months passes away. On what is the most devastating day of her life, she is unable to grieve. Instead, she feels claustrophobic inside the joint family set-up and craves for Pepsi, chips and gol-gappay! The elders in the family are shocked. You catch yourself completely biased in your attitude. Who said that widows should display austerity and cannot indulge in some harmless indulgence to shake off that burden? Asking her to stick to tea or coffee instead is the same thing as asking her to shave off her head, shatter her bangles or don that white saree, isn't it ?
ASHOK’s FIVE reviews #Pagglait, the sweet sad and funny new film on #NetflixIndia. Director #UmeshBist tells an all too familiar story of mansplaining and patriarchy, underlining the fact that women too have their own voice. #SanyaMalhotra plays Sandhya, who is mourning the loss of her husband Astik Giri. There are no flashbacks here, no fleeting images of the dead man, no photo frame either; the focus is clearly on the woman’s point of view. And that's exactly what the family elders played by a host of heavy-weight actors set out to demolish! As Sandhy says “Ladki logon ke liye puri duniya sochti hai, bas yeh nahin poochta hai woh kya soch rahi hai”.
The casting includes #AshutoshRana and #SheebaChaddha as parents of the late Astik Giri and play their roles with consummate ease. Then there is #RajeshTailang and #ChetanSharma as maternal uncles and #ShrutiSharma as Nazia Zaidi, Sandhya’s Muslim friend who is introdcued to bring out the double standards that exist in our society. And then there is #SayaniGupta who plays the mysterious lady-friend of the late Giri. #RaghubirYadav plays the patriarch in the family and there is #AnanyaKhare as well. The honours go to #SanyaMalhotra though for a commendable performance, balancing the gravitas with the naivete, the innocence and the indulgence, the child and the woman. And what Bist does beautifully is to contrast all the above in the imagery. #RafeyMohamad’s camerawork stands out; the scene where the gol-guppa being served is juxtaposed with the funeral rituals is brilliant!
The elders are quick to label the young widow’s condition; terming it as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; she is just happy to meet her friend and venture out and relist her favourite comfort food. The humour laced dialogues form an integral core of the film. #Pagglait is in many ways a film of glimpses into our societal biases. On one side, a death in the family brings up the hypocrisy and the greed; on the other there is the usual stance of propriety and self-aggrandisement. And adding to the mix is the usual story of class differences, ego and one-upmanship as well as familial disharmony. All narrated with a tongue-in-cheek manner without that sermonising tone. The “Ooh la lah” house bell that chimes up just when there is a serious dialogue moment just about sums up the attitude.
The script is a tad sluggish and perhaps the film could well have been twenty minutes shorter but what #Pagglait does really well is to expose our inherent biases. Next time when you make a decision for someone, stop and think about it from the person’s point of view! And be prepared to stand surprised at how biased we really are!
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