People who've liked Raanjhanaa insist that Kundan is an exact representation of Benarasi youth. 'That is how boys there love!' Kundan, still in school, follows Zoya everywhere. He could have found a million ways to tell her how he feels, but what he chooses to do is:
1) hold her hand in the middle of a crowded street and ENJOY getting slapped.
2) Slit his wrist when she says she doesn't feel that way about him.
This is a stalker and there are stalkers everywhere, in all parts of India. But surely in no town, not even in Bollywood Benaras, should they be romanticised the way Kundan is. Kundan isn't an anti-hero either. He IS the hero. Anand Rai makes sure of that by
1) having Kundan turn over a new leaf after Abhay's character is beaten up and
2) having every single character forgive him once they're exposed to the blinding glow of his pure heart.
Abhay Deol's sister who watches her bro get beaten tells her parents that if not for Kundan, Abhay would be dead. It is only when Abhay finally dies (smartly not shown) that she decides to give Kundan a couple of cold stares. But Kundan serves food at the Langar and who can stay mad at him after that, right? Remember how Abhay wakes up from his coma long enough to tell Kundan: no hard feelings, these chicks na, ruin our life? And Swara, after being stood up on their wedding, still loves him!!?? Kundan is the hero. If anything, he is a victim of louve.
A good question to ask is if Anand (with an extra 'a' somewhere, I forget) was so determined to make Kundan a hero, why didn't he go with conventional characterisation? Why give him 'grey shades' only to spend the whole second half white-washing? I believe Anand Rai is a bit upset with today's intolerance towards what was once acceptable in his growing up years. He wants to know: Is it really such a bad thing for a boy to threaten to kill himself for a girl? For him to bleed in front of her, till she agrees she loves him? Is it such a terrible thing when a boy publicly grabs a girl and threatens her even though she's made it clear she doesn't feel the same way? And what is the big deal if he uses someone else's feelings for him to exact revenge on the one who rejected him? Must we hate a person for doing all this? No, says Anand Rai, you must not. Such a person is still a lovely human being and you will see that the ones he hurt don't deserve our pity either.
Anand Rai uses three tools, in the form of characters, to achieve this.
1) The best friend, the one with the funny lines,
2) Zoya, whose actions too are not beyond questioning, and
3) Swara Bhaskar, who loves Kundan from when she was a toddler to like forever.
Never mind that a person who slits his wrists at the drop of a hat is most unlikely to have a loyal best friend as much in love with him as Swara Bhaskar's character is. What puzzled me most was why Zoya tolerated Kundan's presence on campus for as long as she did? Here, the writing is clever and I am only pretending to be impressed. To distract us from the impossibility of true friendship between the two, the friend is given humour. And to justify Kundan's ill-treatment of Swara she is made unlady-like almost autistic. Finally, Zoya, whose love of her life was killed because she refused Kundan, seeks revenge so late in the film that it feels irrelevant and actually mean!
I never in my life have slapped someone and then turned around to smile at the person, so I can't say I understand Zoya. Apparently Benarasi women also behave unlike the rest of humanity. Why else would she allow Kundan to hang around her after he openly threatens her on the street? Why does she think maligning an innocent man's image is the only way to refuse a marriage proposal? And what was the idea behind asking your boyfriend to pretend to be a Muslim? Was no one in her family even curious about Abhay's family? Is Benaras, in convoluted Benarasi logic, so forward thinking that the orthodox Muslim family is okay to have the groom-to-be live with them till the wedding and be the sole representative of his entire family?
So, I don't like Kundan's character, or in fact, anyone else's. But that shouldn't have made me dislike the film as much as I did. I've seen other films in which the lead characters sickened/ annoyed me or were people I wouldn't be friends with: Clockwork Orange, Perfume, Raging Bull and so on. Plenty of films in which lead characters commit an unforgivable crime, seek redemption, win our sympathy but must still die: In Bruges, Dead Man Walking, Chamber, etc. Raanjhanaa's story is terrible because it was built with the sole purpose of convincing us that Kundan is a good guy. There isn't a plot at all! Had Zoya, like a normal human being, confronted him the minute she sees him in DU, several story possibilities open up. Maybe we'd have stepped into her shoes to see what it takes to forgive a man who was responsible for so much grief in your life. But since it was important to make her unreasonable, like apparently all women are, we are fed a fantastical tale of student leaders taking on the CM by merely wishing it. So we have a climax that's crazier than the character's relationship with each other. Zoya decides to blow up a rally to kill ONE man. And then confess to it at a press conference. How hard is it to get hold of some poison, lady? And now, having finally become a terrorist and gone crazy, she understands Kundan better (I suppose, I just don't understand the hospital scene otherwise) and she makes peace with him.
The girl who broke teenage Anand Rai's heart for the good-looking stud of the class has a lot to answer for. First Tanu Weds Manu and now this. Girls use boys who love them to get the boys they love. The boy getting used finally has ENOUGH of it and tells the girl off. And thus the girl is reformed by the self-sacrificing love of the boy. God know why, but it is certainly Anand Rai's big fantasy.
1) hold her hand in the middle of a crowded street and ENJOY getting slapped.
2) Slit his wrist when she says she doesn't feel that way about him.
This is a stalker and there are stalkers everywhere, in all parts of India. But surely in no town, not even in Bollywood Benaras, should they be romanticised the way Kundan is. Kundan isn't an anti-hero either. He IS the hero. Anand Rai makes sure of that by
1) having Kundan turn over a new leaf after Abhay's character is beaten up and
2) having every single character forgive him once they're exposed to the blinding glow of his pure heart.
Abhay Deol's sister who watches her bro get beaten tells her parents that if not for Kundan, Abhay would be dead. It is only when Abhay finally dies (smartly not shown) that she decides to give Kundan a couple of cold stares. But Kundan serves food at the Langar and who can stay mad at him after that, right? Remember how Abhay wakes up from his coma long enough to tell Kundan: no hard feelings, these chicks na, ruin our life? And Swara, after being stood up on their wedding, still loves him!!?? Kundan is the hero. If anything, he is a victim of louve.
A good question to ask is if Anand (with an extra 'a' somewhere, I forget) was so determined to make Kundan a hero, why didn't he go with conventional characterisation? Why give him 'grey shades' only to spend the whole second half white-washing? I believe Anand Rai is a bit upset with today's intolerance towards what was once acceptable in his growing up years. He wants to know: Is it really such a bad thing for a boy to threaten to kill himself for a girl? For him to bleed in front of her, till she agrees she loves him? Is it such a terrible thing when a boy publicly grabs a girl and threatens her even though she's made it clear she doesn't feel the same way? And what is the big deal if he uses someone else's feelings for him to exact revenge on the one who rejected him? Must we hate a person for doing all this? No, says Anand Rai, you must not. Such a person is still a lovely human being and you will see that the ones he hurt don't deserve our pity either.
Anand Rai uses three tools, in the form of characters, to achieve this.
1) The best friend, the one with the funny lines,
2) Zoya, whose actions too are not beyond questioning, and
3) Swara Bhaskar, who loves Kundan from when she was a toddler to like forever.
Never mind that a person who slits his wrists at the drop of a hat is most unlikely to have a loyal best friend as much in love with him as Swara Bhaskar's character is. What puzzled me most was why Zoya tolerated Kundan's presence on campus for as long as she did? Here, the writing is clever and I am only pretending to be impressed. To distract us from the impossibility of true friendship between the two, the friend is given humour. And to justify Kundan's ill-treatment of Swara she is made unlady-like almost autistic. Finally, Zoya, whose love of her life was killed because she refused Kundan, seeks revenge so late in the film that it feels irrelevant and actually mean!
I never in my life have slapped someone and then turned around to smile at the person, so I can't say I understand Zoya. Apparently Benarasi women also behave unlike the rest of humanity. Why else would she allow Kundan to hang around her after he openly threatens her on the street? Why does she think maligning an innocent man's image is the only way to refuse a marriage proposal? And what was the idea behind asking your boyfriend to pretend to be a Muslim? Was no one in her family even curious about Abhay's family? Is Benaras, in convoluted Benarasi logic, so forward thinking that the orthodox Muslim family is okay to have the groom-to-be live with them till the wedding and be the sole representative of his entire family?
So, I don't like Kundan's character, or in fact, anyone else's. But that shouldn't have made me dislike the film as much as I did. I've seen other films in which the lead characters sickened/ annoyed me or were people I wouldn't be friends with: Clockwork Orange, Perfume, Raging Bull and so on. Plenty of films in which lead characters commit an unforgivable crime, seek redemption, win our sympathy but must still die: In Bruges, Dead Man Walking, Chamber, etc. Raanjhanaa's story is terrible because it was built with the sole purpose of convincing us that Kundan is a good guy. There isn't a plot at all! Had Zoya, like a normal human being, confronted him the minute she sees him in DU, several story possibilities open up. Maybe we'd have stepped into her shoes to see what it takes to forgive a man who was responsible for so much grief in your life. But since it was important to make her unreasonable, like apparently all women are, we are fed a fantastical tale of student leaders taking on the CM by merely wishing it. So we have a climax that's crazier than the character's relationship with each other. Zoya decides to blow up a rally to kill ONE man. And then confess to it at a press conference. How hard is it to get hold of some poison, lady? And now, having finally become a terrorist and gone crazy, she understands Kundan better (I suppose, I just don't understand the hospital scene otherwise) and she makes peace with him.
The girl who broke teenage Anand Rai's heart for the good-looking stud of the class has a lot to answer for. First Tanu Weds Manu and now this. Girls use boys who love them to get the boys they love. The boy getting used finally has ENOUGH of it and tells the girl off. And thus the girl is reformed by the self-sacrificing love of the boy. God know why, but it is certainly Anand Rai's big fantasy.
No comments:
Post a Comment