Director Harish Vyas's film explores the gradual erosion of a marriage that has its foundation in sexist definitions of gender roles, instead of love and mutual respect.
Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain review: Sanjai Mishra, Ekavali Khanna deliver top-notch performances
Cinestaan Rating
Release Date: 18 May 2018 / Rated: U / 01hr 45min
Suparna Thombare
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Mumbai, 18 May 2018 12:21 IST
Updated: 19 May 2018 13:16 IST
With the title borrowed from Amitabh Bachchan's famous song, Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain, is about the lack of love and respect in the marriage of a middle-aged couple in Benares.
Yashwant Batra (Sanjai Mishra), who works at the local post office, lives with his dutiful wife Kiran (Ekavali Khanna) and rebellious daughter Preeti (Shivani Raghuvanshi). Batra wants his wife to take care of the home and marry his daughter off to a boy of his choice, instead of her neighbourhood boyfriend, Jugnu (Anshuman Jha). On the other hand, he believes that providing financially for the family is his primary role.
While there is pent up frustration in the Batra house, it is when Preeti points out the obvious dysfunctional marriage to her parents that things come to a head.
With some push from Preeti and her new husband, Yashwant gets into a pink shirt, a scarf around his neck, buys a rose, writes a love letter and tries to impress his wife.
Even though these scenes are sweet and funny, this is when it looks like things are about to go downhill. You begin to wonder if this will turn out to be a typical Hindi film affair. Will Yashwant win back his wife with his filmi shenanigans? Will this film have that stereotypical climax at the airport? Will the wife come running back to her chauvinistic husband? Luckily, the director stops short and looks for more realistic solutions.
Inspired by Feroz (Pankaj Tripathi) and his ailing wife Suman's love story of falling in love before the marriage and growing it after, Yashwant begins to understand the value of his partner. But again, the question is - was this marriage even worth saving in the first place?
Nonetheless, the top-notch performances keep the film going. Even in a cameo, Tripathi holds your attention in every frame. While Jha does his bit as the upbeat and flashy loverboy Jugnu, Raghuvanshi (previously seen in Titli) is perfectly cast as a young small town girl showing her parents the mirror and supporting their decisions. Once again, Sanjai Mishra sinks his teeth into a character, this time that of a chauvinistic husband.
Ekavali Khanna, though, is the real discovery of this film. Poised and graceful, she underplays her character of a dutiful wife to great effect.
In the opening shot itself, director Harish Vyas sets the message of the film. You can't see things clearly when you are too close to them, but from the right distance the same becomes clear.
While the director depicts Yashwant's character flaws, he chooses to focus on his inability to express his love. However Yashwant's core problem is not just that he cannot express as the director tries to put it, but his inherent sexism. He thinks women should sit at home and cater to their husband's orders. He puts her down when she tries to voice her opinions, blaming her for the upbringing of his daughter, who is a spirited young woman. He also makes Kiran suffer because of his own complexes about his financial status. Well, surely there are many men out there who identify with his character.
He didn't need to learn just to express love, but to respect his wife as an equal partner.
There is a lot to take back from this story of the hollowness that creeps into a middle-class marriage crippled under the burden of domestic duties. This includes Faroukh Mistry's camera gliding beautifully over the Ganges and the music which compliments this mellow drama. More importantly it is an exploration of the gradual erosion of a marriage that has its foundation on sexist definitions of gender roles, and not love and mutual respect.