‘Thappad’ — Amongst the most necessary films ever made
A bubbly, loving Amu (Taapsee Pannu) has chosen to be a housewife to the imperfect Vikram (Pavail Gulati). She loves him to no end and does so unconditionally and without crossing any boundaries. But he is a product of systemic patriarchy, so he feels entitled, special and more deserving than any woman or man for that matter. One day in a seemingly innocuous setting, he slaps her and her entire life comes crashing down.
Anubhav Sinha, in his new avatar since ‘Mulk’, is a Master! Imagining an entire movie over “just a slap”, let alone executing it so masterfully, is something only someone at the top of his game could create. A movie on such an issue a few years ago, would’ve resorted to more obvious, more tangible, only black and white approaches but Anubhav chooses to take the tough road where things seem ‘normal’ to the untrained eye. The discrimination here is subtle, it is nuanced. So Amu’s world rotates round Vikram, as does his mother’s and his maid’s. Amu wakes up before him, readies everything for him, even comes in and silences his alarm clock, she greets him by his car with his coffee and breakfast, she looks after his mother as her own, her dreams are subservient to his, she is happy fantasizing a blue door to their dream London home whereas her favourite colour was actually yellow. He wonders what their working-woman-neighbour Diya Mirza does to earn so much money that she keeps changing her cars. Amu blinds herself to all these signs. But “just a slap” changes it all, it forces her to confront everything she had blinded herself to, so while she feels the gaze of an entire system conniving against her, others around her wonder why she isn’t able to move on from “just a slap”!
This isn’t Amu’s story alone, this is her lawyer’s story who is burdened under her husband’s arrogance and sexual violence, this is her neighbour’s story who is happy living without a man, this is her maid’s story who is battling an abusive husband, this is her mother’s story who has a wonderful husband yet had to let go of her dreams, this is her mother-in-law’s story who is herself separated from her husband yet asks Amu to tolerate. Anubhav masterfully weaves his way across these multiple threads, each representing a different woman with a different approach to the same patriarchy.
If one strains oneself to look for a flaw, it is the pregnancy track which seems abrupt and planted. One could also perhaps question Amu’s idealistic approach even when things get dirty. But these are minor blemishes in an otherwise power-packed watch, hence one doesn’t need a large heart to look beyond and appreciate the larger picture here.
The movie has two songs that play in the background. But the one that stays immortalized in your memory is the gorgeous “Ek tukda dhoop”, written by Shakeel Azmi, composed by Anurag Saikia and sung by Raghav Chaitanya. “Toot ke hum dono mein, jo bacha woh kum sa hain, ek tukda dhoop ka, andar andar num sa hain…” — wow!
Taapsee Pannu is brilliant, her rawness is refreshing, she makes you root for Amu throughout. However, if one zooms out of Amu and zooms in to Taapsee’s filmography, there seem to be two versions of her — one bubbly, the other grieving courageously. Both are appreciable but now seem to be getting repeated across movies, unlike a more versatile Alia or even Deepika for that matter. Pavail Gulati is nuanced and keeps his portrayal of a flawed man unaware of his own shortcomings from descending into caricature. Diya Mirza is ethereal and seems to now possess a newfound maturity, perhaps after recent life-experiences off-screen. Ratna Pathak and Tanvi Azmi are brilliant as loving but flawed parents. Kumud Mishra is particularly admirable playing a loving, progressive man, husband and father. Maya Sarao as Amu’s lawyer is refreshingly bold and raw, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan as Amu’s maid is powerful, Naila Grewal as her lawyer’s assistant stands her ground.
But the Heroes of this Film are Writer-Director Anubhav Sinha and co-writer Mrunmayee Lagoo, who’s the daughter of Actress Reema Lagoo. Sinha is getting better with each film. This film could very easily have descended into a ‘documentary-esque activisty zone’ but by rooting his intent in very real characters with very relatable situations, Anubhav prevents that from happening. When I watched the movie at a packed upmarket Juhu theatre, I was very worried about a gasp or yawn from the audience had they interpreted Taapsee’s approach as an over-reaction to ‘just one slap’ but I didn’t hear any, in fact I heard several groans of discontent when characters around Taapsee tried to justify what happened or asked her to move on. People clapped at various points throughout the movie and especially during the last 15 minutes, not one phone rang, not one voice was heard.
I consider myself a progressive, less patriarchal male, yet I was moved at various points during the film, questioning whether I discriminate in my own life. I could also sense others around me, men and women, reflecting upon their own lives, their compromises, their blinded realities. That perhaps is the greatest effect a filmmaker can hope to have. And intriguingly, while generating this effect, Anubhav Sinha doesn’t seem to have become depressed or disillusioned or cynical in his own life. Even in Film Companion’s recent political filmmakers roundtable, he was pragmatic and realistic whereas some others felt quite disillusioned.
Anubhav Sinha has mastered the art of making good, necessary content almost at a factory setting. He shared the idea for ‘Thappad’ while on a flight with Taapsee during the shooting of ‘Mulk’, then he made Article 15, finished the shoot and rushed into ‘Thappad’, finished the shoot in about 40 days and has presumably since moved onto his next. T-series honcho Bhushan Kumar had earlier told him they’ll include a customary remix song for promotions but when he saw the first cut of ‘Thappad’, he himself called Anubhav and said this film doesn’t need such a song.
‘Thappad’ has made 19.13 Crores in its first 5 days. My guess is that it’ll wrap around the 25–30 Cr mark, just like ‘Mulk’. ‘Article 15’ made way more, I think that has to be down to a ‘Hero’ led-film v/s a ‘Heroine’ led one. But Anubhav 2.0’s films have always recovered their costs back, especially with satellite and OTT revenues bundled. I guess his films fit into his Producers’ ‘Awards-list-films’.
For a movie that has consistently received excellent critical and commercial reviews, Thappad’s IMDb rating is 6.4, largely because of Taapsee’s support to the CAA protestors. While that rot in our Country may never be influenced by a movie, it is applause-worthy that other societal rots are being targetted by makers such as Anubhav Sinha! Makers like Sinha give hope!
