Thappad movie which is gathering everyone’s attention is phenomenal story. It subtly packs many characters across and makes us rethink and revisit the institutions strongly knitted in our society.
In one particular scene Amrita’s mom Sandhiya tells “ this is what my mom taught me , to look after home”. True , We are always told that a girl is like an angel ,she leaves her family behind to bring joy and happiness to the other family . In the pursuit to bring happiness to others the women’s happiness is vanished . Thappad makes us to rethink such believes entrusted in our society and culture. We have many feminist fathers around us who want their daughters to stand on their belief and pursue their wish and prioritize their happiness every time, but rarely these fathers have the same urge to push their wife the same way they wish to see their daughter , it isn’t that support is not received but the act of coaxing defers.
Thappad does not focus on single character and her life before and aftermath , it brings more to premise. We are able to see how each character is fighting their own story . We have single mother though emotionally broken raising her teenage daughter face through goods and bads of teenage life. We just love her and her answer when Sania questions if she ever received any slap from her husband. Rarely a daughter is given a freedom to discuss the relationship her mother shares with her husband and how she feels about it.
The character Sunitha , Amrita ‘s helper impresses us few scenes of the movie, receiving regular slaps and harassment from her husband she reveals her shock telling “ It is not that her husband alone who raises his hand but there are others too”. We see her enjoying herself playing with street cricketers , that happiness in her face tells us what has been missing in her all throughout. Her silent act of placing back the extra salary amount she receives initially is a silent slap she gives back to her master.
The main character Amrita is relatable in every moment in the movie . We are able to connect to her initial happy moments in the family and her numbness after she visualizes the reality of her life in front of her. We see her standing deprived of everything from the very next morning . It takes long time not only for us but for almost everybody to guess what she was going through. This is the very crucial part of the story. Everybody questions her it is just a slap which came out at the heat of the moment. We just see only her father worrying how Ammu is going through this. Amrita just makes us realize it was more than just a slap and self – respect . It is a question of value system . It is question of all the love, selflessness she invested in a person’s journey . Amrita quietly tells in shot it is not monetary benefits, nor wants anything back in return but reminds us that if love is lost everything is lost in relationship. Often such things are not realized until we could really put us in their place. Empathy and not just sympathy is required. In the middle of her fight to end the toxic relationship we are able to see what world Amrita wanted and instead what she got. Her Final revelations makes us realize how far is a Women’s choices are considered in a marriage. Hardly will a woman be able to tell the answer for this.
A search for freedom outside the life and within the relationship is depicted through the story of a lawyer. She is representative of most of the women, a life inside and a life outside. She fights not only cases but also there is fight for identity , there is fight for her success and above all she fights her happiness. She is equally in a bitter relationship but she believes that is what is life is. Her stolen moments makes us keep thinking a women search never ends. May be we discover such things a while later and by the time it becomes too late.
Thappad uses a slap as a base to convey different stories to us , story of search of identity to search of love and happiness. It isn’t breaking away from relationship , it breaking away from the strong ties that stops us from being ourselves. The institution of marriage on a woman’s life , her life before and after should at times should be revisited and thought upon. After all it is not single person’s story it is about two people equally involved.
Finally at the end of movie when see everything gets mended we are able to a new start to everything. There is a beautiful scene to watch where Amrita’s’ brother and his girlfriend speak out to each other to make themselves better in their journey. It gives a better feel but rarely we such things happen.
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