To celebrate Teacher’s Day today (5 September), we run through this year’s popular films, from Padmaavat to Gold, and see what life lessons can be learned from them.
Sonal Pandya
This Teacher’s Day (5 September), we’re moving the lessons out from the classroom to the film screen. There’s so much one can learn just by watching cinema. In 2018, we’ve accrued much knowledge from the popular films that kept the box office rolling. Here’s a rundown of what we have gathered.
1. Padmaavat
Lesson: Listen to your wife!
Rajput king Ratan Singh (Shahid Kapoor) made the biggest folly in Padmaavat when he didn't heed the advice of his wise second wife, Padmavati (Deepika Padukone), when Alauddin Khilji (Ranveer Singh), the new sultan of Delhi, laid siege to Singh's kingdom, Chittor. Needless to say, it didn't end well for both Ratan Singh and Padmavati. This is why it's important to listen to your wife, for Pete's sake!
Padmaavat review: A beautiful costume drama trying too hard to impress
2. Pad Man
Lesson: The sanitary pad is not contraband
Starring Akshay Kumar as the campaigning Lakshmikant Chauhan, R Balki’s Pad Man tries to help the women in his life (his wife and sisters) by inventing a comfortable, low-cost sanitary pad for them. But the social stigma attached to menstruation forces him to leave his village to prove himself to his family and village. Chauhan ends up inventing a sanitary pad affordable and easy to use for rural women, and thus proves that sanitary pad is not contraband to be hidden.
Pad Man review: Over-explanation stops extraordinary tale from becoming brilliant film
3. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
Lesson: Trust your friends, they know all your secrets, and your weaknesses too
In the war of romance against bromance, the bromance wins out, because friends always have your back. In Luv Ranjan's surprise hit Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (2018), friend Sonu (Kartik Aaryan) is extremely suspicious of the perfect girl, Sweety (Nushrat Bharucha), of his childhood best friend Titu (Sunny Singh). Sonu emerges out on top because he knows his friend - in and out.
Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety review: This bromance is just another Punchnama reload
4. Raid
Lesson: Find better hiding spots for your treasures
If you’re trying to hide money from the government, Swiss banks are usually helpful. Or so we’ve heard. Set in the 1980s, Raj Kumar Gupta's Raid followed an incredible income-tax raid led by an honest and by-the-book IRS officer Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) who uncovers the black money hoarded by tax evader, Rameshwar Singh (Saurabh Shukla) and his family. The way Patnaik sniffs out each and every hiding spot is a sight to behold. It’s a film to strike fear in every tax evader.
Raid review: Ajay Devgn's raid, Saurabh Shukla's rage seize the imagination
5. Baaghi 2
Lesson: Stay friends with your ex
When you're in a personal crisis, it's good to count on your ex. It helps he's a buff special forces soldier like Ronny (Tiger Shroff) from Baaghi 2. For Ahmed Khan's thriller, Ronny transforms himself into a one-man army to help out his college sweetheart Neha as she hunts for her missing daughter. He will do anything for her even though it's been years since they've met.
Baaghi 2 review: Welcome to the Tiger Shroff stunt show
6. Raazi
Lesson: Love for country begins at home
Alia Bhatt is the most dutiful daughter in Meghana Gulzar’s period thriller Raazi. As Sehmat, the actress follows her onscreen father’s wishes to turn spy for her nation, because nothing comes in front of duty for the nation, not even oneself.
Raazi review: Alia Bhatt adds another incredible story to her name
7. Veere Di Weeding
Lesson: There’s strength in sisterhood
You may fight or not speak with your gang of girlfriends but at the end of the day, they are the sisters you never had, or maybe you’ve always wanted. In the friendship drama, actresses Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania came together to portray four fast friends who gathered for a friend’s wedding, which is later called off. Through thick and thin, the friends are there for each other.
Veere Di Wedding review: Some fun, lots of chaos
8. Race 3
Lesson: Family is complicated
For the third film in the series, director Remo D’Souza has brought forward Salman Khan with a large new cast featuring Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy and Saaqib Salim, with remaining cast member Anil Kapoor. They are all connected in weird, and frankly mystifying familial connections in the universe of Race 3. The trailer got it right when they said, “You don’t need enemies when you have a family.”
Race 3 review: This vehicle runs out of gas long before the finish line
9. Sanju
Lesson: You've got to hit rock bottom (many, many times) before you get back on the top
The biopic on actor Sanjay Dutt, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, is basically a guide of what not to do. The former bad boy of Hindi cinema has been infamous, a bit of which was discussed onscreen by Hirani. The director has been rightly accused of whitewashing many incidents from the star-son’s life, but one has to admire his grit and determination to keep at it, especially when the stakes were stacked against him.
Sanju review: Ranbir Kapoor is the soul of this cleverly written narrative
10. Gold
Lesson: Teamwork makes the dream work
There is no ‘i’ in a team. Everyone knows that, but they need to be reminded of that fact every now and again. To win independent India’s first Olympic gold in hockey, 11 players from across the new nation and to come together seamlessly claim the medal on British soil, no less, in 1948.
Gold review: A satisfactory attempt at revisiting a glorious past
