originally posted on www.passionforcinema.com
We saw in Vinnaithandi Varruvaya (VTV) and Imtiaz Ali’s films that at most of the times the obstacles in a relationship are very much internal as opposed to what we are led to believe by most of our mainstream cinema. We are fed by our films that the hurdles between two lovers and the happily-ever-after are either fate, misunderstanding (where both parties are cluelessly innocent), parents or a third person (forming a triangle). While if you look around you it is more often than not indecision, insecurities, volatile interest in the partner, ever reducing attention span, high running libido or sometimes just plain boredom. Break Ke Baad doesn’target these specifically but it does something very refreshing for a mainstream Hindi rom-coms, it internalizes all the struggles one faces in relationships.
Films like Blue Valentine( and Everyone Else, a german film which I highly recommend for those who have seen Blue Valentine)take this particular aspect to the most brutal/honest part of its spectrum, where one partner, to bare it in all its primitive simplicity, looses interest and respect for the other partner. Plain and simple. There seems to be no other reason to dump a husband and the father (who actually helps the mother by taking responsibility of a child who may not be his). Pardon my digression into Blue Valentine, but this is a film which is weighing on my consciousness right from the time I watched it. It cut really close to me, so close that I can’t even get myself to recount the last scenes of the movie. Which is why I will now immediately lose myself in a hopeful, may be a fantasy, world of Break ke Baad, in which all characters get a chance to wise-up and make up for their minor digressions. They understand their misgivings in retrospect and act on them. They ask for forgiveness as easily as they forgive. It is a movie where our judgment may get better of us and bias ourselves against the movie.
From whatever reviews I’ve read I can only conclude that Deepika’s character doesn’t earn any brownie points for her behavior which, if you take a step back and observe, is actually being very harsh on her. It would be actually fairer if I talk on this with more context and in a more organic way.
We have a very simple and identifiable premise of a cribby stuck-in-banal-job guy dating a high-flyer ambitious I-wanna-live-my-life kinda a girl. If we look around at such scenarios in real life, and importantly at a juncture when the female makes a breakthrough and achieves somewhat higher ‘social-standing’, we know what is in store for that particular couple. Break ke Baad offers a take on this premise in a rather naïve yet honest way. It catches up with the couple before the female takes a (or rather acts on a plan to) high jump. The roles are defined between them. The guy is supposed to be grounded and realistic one, while the female being an impulsive and instinctive wild girl. They both very well acknowledge their roles and seem to be relishing them. They infact also acknowledge the practical convenience of their roles and how without either one it will all collapse. The female brings in the excitement while the male sets the speed limits. One of the best scenes of the movie comes during this part when the female very cutely tells the guy that tomorrow if I waiver and take off, it is your responsibility to tether me down and lash two tight slaps to bring me back to ground. Now if you see, this guy is barely holding onto her, always on the edge thinking what if tomorrow she leaves me? He is plain insecure. The female here finally decides to move to another country for better opportunities. Amidst much gung-ho she eventually moves to Australia. After couple of weeks of phone chat, one day by accident another guy picks up the phone at the female’s end. Our guy panics and in a snap reaches her place in Australia un-announced. Pissed off by her boy-friends ridiculousness she there and then dumps him saying that its over. But our guy taken over by a bout of self-righteousness stemming from their earlier understanding of him being the ‘mature’ one, doesn’t budge from there in hope of once again bringing her down from her supposed flight of fancy and rekindling their ‘love and understanding’. This is the interval point. I want to ask all those who hated Break ke baad, one question, isn’t this interesting? I mean isn’t this setup really interesting.
Danish Aslam (the director and writer) said in his interview, “I could relate to the first draft a lot more but after Renuka came on board and as the script evolved, I feel Aaliya is becoming a lot like Renuka. She even talks the way Renuka does!”
If you observe, the basic structure of the script is to put the guy in a righteous position and then make him win at the end by making the female realize that she had gone a self-centered trip. Reading Danish’s interview I was sure that if not for Renuka Kunzru (the co-writer with Danish Aslam), the movie would have felt very aloof from its female lead and would have become a rather skewed rom-com. Renuka lends credibility to the female which helps to get more important issues at fore.
Now coming to the latter half. If you even are getting somewhat closer to Aaliya’s character, you will notice that the characters in the 2nd half are just imposing their own insecurities on her, in a very annoying self-righteous way. She has absolutely no insecurities and is just doing what she wants in the moment. Her mother tries to throw her on a guilt trip by some solid emotional black-mailing (which all our mothers are expert at). Her boyfriend is not ready to accept a life without her. I’m not saying both don’t have a point, but they are just acting on some misguided, highly biased impulses. She is traumatized from both the sides. But she holds her own, does what she wants to do. Though she finally asks forgiveness from her mother, but till then her mother has also realized her own prejudiced stance and everybody wisens up a bit.
Till this point I have nothing but praises for the movie. But then the way the movie goes about solving the whole issue with her and her boyfriend is a bit been-there-done-that, though no less truer. The true part of it is that there is no way to rekindle romance after such a break-up, unless the guy earns respect in the eyes of the female. How to do that filmy style, make the hero a runaway successful chef! It is shown all too easy. Once the guy is on his feet, the female’s interest is piqued. And then we have no looking back. This completion arc is somewhat muddled (may be that is the point). I’ll have to watch the film once again to properly understand this arc, but instinctively it just felt a bit convenient and not worthy of the issues put forth in the initial setup. I would be lying if I said the end was oh-so-predictable. The reason the end surprised me was because I was expecting something unusual (given the VTV hangover) but it ended being the usual. I felt sudden joy when the film decided to go the happily-ever after way after the misleading twist. Maybe I badly wanted the guy and the female to get together.
Many of you would feel that you and me have watched a completely different film altogether. I myself am surprised at the mass hate this film generated when it released. Chuck the whole relationship and righteousness blah-blah, but how can one at least not enjoy the casual refreshing conversations in the movie. Some scenes, like the one in the terrace, the one under the table are so cutesy without being overly cheesy. I loved that. I could understand where the guy was coming from, and thanks to Renuka Kunzru I got sufficient insights into Aaliya to fall in love with the character despite her selfish whims.
Another aspect of such films is that there is no sense of direction in the second half, things just see-saw from one moment to the other. Love Aaj Kal and VTV had a very similar second half, when both the lovers are just not able to take a decision and stick to it till the end. Their stances keep on swaying till the end. In this aspect Break Ke Baad doesn’t really break new grounds. It takes the safer and cleaner way, though there are some confusing scenes around the Dhoop Ke Makaan song. I would have really liked some more friction. But that is just what I want. What the entire movie did for me was way more that what I had expected (After all how good can a Imran-Deepika movie be? Right?) And I was just very happy at the end of all of it to just sing praises and make everyone watch this film (which didn’t really happen).
A traditional verdict is as follows,
Ups: Refreshing dialogue, refreshing premise and refreshing casualness.
Downs: (I had predicted Imraan. But no he stands his ground) Convenient wrap-up.
Cast: Deepika Padukone’s best act till date. It is HER movie all the way, but still Imraan in his own innocuous way ably supports her.
Direction: Danish Aslam brings the right amount of natural camaraderie between the leads and creates a multiplex palatable (KJO esque) setting minus the irksome broad strokes.
