Saturday, November 01, 2014
Super Nani
Granny Diaries
Sometimes
the well-meaning ones are the most toxic. Like all the protectors of womankind who say jeans and mobile phones
invite rape. So Indra Kumar says men must respect women, but only if they make
sacrifices to appease a horrid family.
Based on a
Gujarati play called Ba Ae Maari Boundary,
written by Imtiaz Patel, Super Nani is
a loud eighties style melodrama that would have been outdated in 1950. Even
back then women had a spine, and would at least protest ill treatment by their
husbands and children; Mrs Bharti Bhatia (Rekha) seems to revel in it.
She is
educated, accomplished, beautiful and well-dressed, so why does she behave like
an idiot? After being married to a man (Randhir Kapoor in permanent holler mode)
for 40 years (so they inform us), doesn’t she know that he prefers to be served
water on a tray? Hasn’t she figured out that her son does not like oily
parathas for breakfast? How did two of
her three kids get to be so ill-bred if she was such a good mother? Why does
her husband treat her so badly and why has she put up with this humiliation for
40 years? Her faithful maid has more spunk than she does.
To begin
with, there is no sympathy for a doormat like Bharti. Her grandson Mann (Sharman Joshi—made to
speak funny Hindi) arrives from the US, with his Indian values on high alert,
and becomes his Nani’s ally, along with a neighbour (Shweta Kumar—the
filmmaker’s daughter). He decides that
to get respect from her family, she must become a model. So first he takes
pictures of her in weird filmi poses, over-dressed and over- made up (it hurts
to look at that thick red lipstick) and then gets a silly-looking adman (Anupam
Kher) to fashion a successful career for
her. While it is not impossible for a
60-year-old woman to become a model, she would hardly be endorsing glamorous saris
and jewellery, unless she were Rekha!
Her nasty daughter,
son and daughter-in-law are specimens from some ancient nautanki. The newly empowered Bharti straightens out her family,
but still acts coy around the creepy husband. What kills all pretentions of
being pro-female is Indra Kumar having her touch the husband’s feet in the end.
The best compliment he can pay her? That
she was a good wife and mother even when her family trampled all over her. The
hallmark of true Bhartiya Nari—tolerance for endless suffering.
Indra
Kumar doesn’t know the meaning of subtlety—all his films were shrill, this one
turns up the decibel level even more. The result is a headache-inducing film
that Rekha did not deserve!
Labels: Cinemaah
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