Movie Review (Hindi)
Nothing
prepared me for the resounding slap! I knew it was coming but when it came it
sent shock waves through me. Somehow it signaled the death of something
beautiful.
Someone
commented, “A slap is too little a thing to break up a marriage.” The slap, in fact, broke the dream of that ideal marriage. What is important in a married woman’s life? A wealthy husband
who looks at his wife as someone to look after his needs? A downright cruel
husband who blatantly shows his physical power over his wife? How many slaps
before one can call it cruel?
The movie
was really thought provoking. The slap was merely a symbol for various other
resounding hurtful slaps which the characters in the movie learn to live with.
Amrita the protagonist, played by Taapsee
Pannu, delivers a hard message squarely in your face. The other women,
mother played by Ratna Pathak Shah and the mother-in-law played by Tanvi
Azmi have made peace with domesticity and its compromises. Amrita’s
lawyer Nethra, played by Maya
Sarao hesitates to fight her domestic battles and gets courage from Amrita’s
demand of being respected and living a truly happy life. The woman next door, Shivani played by Dia Mirza, who lives with
her teenage daughter, might seem alone, but is happy to live with the memories
of her loving husband. The maid Sunita,
played by Geetika Vidya, fights her wife-battering husband and emerges
victorious.
Taapsee has been doing some good work in movies like Pink and Mulk. She along with the director, Anubhav Sinha, known for movies
like Article 15 and Mulk, have nailed it in Thappad.
Each character’s story weaves into one another seamlessly making it more hard
hitting.
The early
morning tea with lemongrass and ginger which is sipped at various points in the
movie tells its own story. Its fresh fragrance lingers on as the movie signals
a new beginning for all the characters.
