Greetings from Bangalore - happy Resurrection Sunday! I've had a good time the past few weeks. I've been learning more about India's two passions, cricket and Bollywood. I've watched a number of cricket matches (the world cup is going on right now in India), and I've seen two Indian movies in the theater.
The second Bollywood movie I saw was Kapoor and Sons, which was advertised as a family drama revolving around two brothers who fell for the same girl. It was not a comedy, as I had hoped, but a dramatic tale of family secrets, acceptance, life and death. This move was in Hindi with no subtitles, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
It wasn't until the very end of this tear-jerker that I realized the ad was for a laundry detergent. The ad spoke to the cultural norms that pervade not only India, but the U.S. too - laundry and the home are a women's domain, and men can't be bothered with such things.
My personal view is that each couple should discuss and come to an agreement on the roles in a house, and serve each other willingly and wholeheartedly.
In the movie Neerja, the audience is shown parts of the heroine's past, including the demise of her first marriage. Her husband is shown verbally and emotionally abusing her for actions such as bringing home take-away food for supper when she had to work late and for trying to pursue her blossoming modeling career while being a new wife.
These scenes show that India, like the U.S., is grappling with gender roles in society. One of the major themes in Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In (click for quotes) is that each couple should discuss and agree on who should be responsible for what. Maybe one person is responsible for laundry and cleaning, and the other for cooking and grocery shopping. I think this is important so resentment doesn't grow, especially if one person feels that they are contributing more to the relationship than another.
The first movie, Neerja, portrayed the life of the courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting over 350 passengers on Pan Am flight 73 in 1986. The flight was hijacked by a terrorist organization. The movie was in Hindi with English subtitles, and I give it 3 out of 5 stars (the plot was a slow and the acting forced at times).
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| Lobby of INOX Theater at Garuda Mall |
I was amazed at how much of Kapoor and Sons I was able to follow based on the cinematography and the universality of certain human emotions (love, anger, disappointment, etc.). One of the most memorable scenes of the movie actually came during the advertisements that preceded the movie. Please check out this link to see the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwW0X9f0mME.
It wasn't until the very end of this tear-jerker that I realized the ad was for a laundry detergent. The ad spoke to the cultural norms that pervade not only India, but the U.S. too - laundry and the home are a women's domain, and men can't be bothered with such things.
My personal view is that each couple should discuss and come to an agreement on the roles in a house, and serve each other willingly and wholeheartedly.
In the movie Neerja, the audience is shown parts of the heroine's past, including the demise of her first marriage. Her husband is shown verbally and emotionally abusing her for actions such as bringing home take-away food for supper when she had to work late and for trying to pursue her blossoming modeling career while being a new wife.
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| The movie looked like a comedy... |
I write this post to share a glimpse into Indian cinema and the issues that this society grapples with, which are very similar to those men and women in the U.S. face every day. I think we all need to talk about expectations and goals in our various relationships, and support each other towards those. Let's all work to #ShareTheLoad.
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