Ugh, long day at work, brain fried, can’t right a real review. Maybe on the weekend after I do a watch 2. But for now, I just want to talk to y’all about the bits I find interesting!
First most important question: Did you like Father SRK or Son SRK the most?
I was going to say “old” versus “young”, but then I remembered Father SRK has a lengthy youthful flashback. And he is a different character than “Son SRK” even when he is young. Son SRK lives in a complicated world, where injustice rules. He’s an optimist, and he is working to fix things, but it’s complicated. Father SRK lives in a simple world. When he is young, he has a wife and a job and he has faith he can fix any problem and nothing bad will happen. And when he is old, his world becomes even simpler, his mental damage means he just sees the problem in front of him with no emotions or complexities around it. While Son SRK’s world starts out SUPER COMPLICATED and then just gets even more crazy as time goes on.
Anyway, I think I like Father SRK best. I like his straightforward “see the problem, punch the problem” kind of life. But there’s a decent chance on a second watch I will appreciate Son SRK and his overthinking and sensitivity a lot more!
Second question: Why did Son SRK agree to marry the person he KNEW was the cop chasing him?
First reason of course was Because Plot. But I will buy it in the film because they set it up so that SRK and the daughter have already fallen into “father-daughter love” before he meets the Nayanthara. And then the first thing she feels obligated to tell him is that daughter is illegitimate and she chose to keep the pregnancy rather than get married. If SRK had backed out at that point, it would have been a clear slap in the face, a sign that her story is why he refused her. Mostly Plot though, I think. She’s very cool, he’s very cool, of course they fall in love.
Third question: Was the emotional peak of the film Deepika’s goodbye speech to Baby SRK? Or was it when Father SRK recognized (finally) Son SRK? Or was it something else?
I say, Deepika. She absolutely killed in that scene. And ultimately, SRK acting against a body double just isn’t going to have the emotional impact as Deepika acting against a child.
Fourth question: Good idea or bad idea to have none of the female backstories involve an abusive partner?
On the negative side, women usually end up in prison because of an abusive situation in some way (fighting back, being coerced into committing crimes, raising money illegally in order to escape, etc. etc. etc.), so having none of the women in the film with that in their past kind of erases a huge reality.
On the positive side, I really REALLY like that none of these women are defined by their romantic partners. Even Nayanthara, she loves SRK but she is ready to continue working against him until her own morality shifts and she agrees with him. And she doesn’t need/want a husband, just a co-parent. So maybe it’s worth it to erase that reality if we get a female doctor, a female child of a farmer, a female survivor of industrial poisoning, all with complex reasons UNRELATED to love stories that motivate them.
Fifth Question: Better chemistry, SRK and Dips or SRK and Nayanthara?
I say, SRK and Dips!!!! I don’t know if it was their comfort level together, or just natural chemistry, but I thought they were way better together.
6th Question: What was your favorite social message of the film?
While microloans for agriculture and state funded healthcare were good, for me it’s a tie between the casual “woman’s right to choose” message of Nayanthara saying “I didn’t have to have an abortion just because my boyfriend ordered me too” and the brilliant social message ju-jitsu of ending it on “all I’m saying is, research the candidates before you vote”. It would look really REALLY shady to go against that message. Like the one kid in class who refuses to let the teacher look at his locker.
7th Question: Was anyone else thinking about Bandini? And how this movie is SO MUCH BETTER?
In Bandini, the women in prison have kind of a cold truce, not a warm protective love for each other. Our heroine constantly chooses her romantic interest over herself, society, everything. And of course, no one is a super fighter commando type.
