00:00You don't have to be battered or bruised for a woman to file for divorce or domestic violence against her husband.
00:06That was one of the biggest takeaways of Thapad, a movie starring the super-talented Tapsi Pannu and the newcomer Pavel Gulati.
00:19This is one of the most romantic and heartfelt relationship dramas that has released in Bollywood in 2020.
00:26In fact, Tapsi Pannu is easily one of the most talented actresses in Bollywood in 2020 but what
00:33we like her is for her different kind of roles that she takes on. For instance, here she plays
00:38a very docile and almost submissive wife who's very happy being married to Pavel Gulati and
00:45their relationship is nearly perfect. On the outside, she's happy, she's a kind of Indian
00:51wife, a portrait of the perfect Indian wife and a domestic goddess who wakes him up, gives him tea,
00:57they have this deep conversation, everything is going well until at a party he loses his temper
01:02and slaps her. It's just a slap. The whole debate is whether a woman being slapped by a husband
01:08in a fit of anger and rage, is it big enough crime for them to file for divorce. Now we have seen in
01:14Bollywood, everything is over dramatic and inflated but in this case the emotions are all
01:21downplayed. Director Anubhav Sinha whom you know him from movies like Mulk, Article 15 has done
01:27such a tremendous job of playing it down. Subtlety is the biggest strength of this movie, every actor
01:33in the frame knows how to underplay the emotions, they're not screeching, you can feel the anger and
01:38their frustration but at any point they do not scream it loud which is such a departure when it
01:43comes to Bollywood films which is known for its larger than life heroes. Here every character is
01:48flawed in their own way and it's a woman's fight for dignity. In fact there are some very poignant
01:53scenes where they take on patriarchy in Indian marriages and in Indian society in general
02:00through such sensitive lens. Nobody is being judged in this film and that's one of the biggest
02:05strengths of this film. Seasoned actors like Kumud Mishra, Ratna Pathak Shah and Tanvi Azmi have all
02:12such well-defined roles, nobody is at fault here, they play parents who simply they can't come to
02:18terms with the fact that their daughter or daughter-in-law has the audacity to actually
02:24file for divorce just based on slap, can't you just move on is something that they keep asking her
02:28and this movie is something that Anubhav Sinha and actress Tapsee Pannu has taken one for the
02:34women's team here. When we have turbulent and toxic romances like Kabir Singh doing so well
02:40in the cinemas, here comes a movie that is really very subtle and very very poignant in its tone as
02:46well. In Kabir Singh if you saw lovers slapping each other here is just about one slap, is it big
02:51enough crap. It's a small strand but they've made a fantastic movie out of it. In fact it's one of
02:56the movies where also it's all about the milieu it is set in, the atmospherics, the middle class and
03:01the class divide that you see between the daughter-in-law who is not so rich but has got
03:06some very rounded well-rounded happy parents versus she marries into a rich family which often
03:11happens in India where there are class divides between when a woman marries into a richer family
03:16it's often understood that she's somewhere along the way she should know her place in society.
03:21Everything is subtly shown and that is one of the biggest strengths of this film. In fact if I were
03:26to look at the flaws I can't find many because it's not often in Bollywood where you feel that
03:31there is an emotional story, a stirring tale about domestic violence that shows three women in
03:37different kinds of circumstances going through marriage and seeing it from their perspective.
03:42What an interesting way to tell a story. There was not even one moment when I was
03:46really bored. I think Anubhav Sinha, Pavel Gulati and Tanvi Azmi and Tapsee Panha they are the
03:52superstars of this movie and honestly I don't have many flaws because I think such movies
03:58should be made in Bollywood and there should be takers for such films. I've gone with 3.5,
04:03actually scratch that I've gone with 4 out of 5 because these are the kind of movies
04:07that we love and that we want to watch as women and as humans. So here is hoping that Anubhav
04:13Sinha and Tapsee Panha and different actors in Bollywood take such creative gambles.
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