“No … it’s not realistic“After seeing Anurag Basu’s metro … in Dino, there were words before my Bengali mother and aunt’s mouth.
Anurag Basu is a true artist when it comes to giving slices of life on the big screen. And for me, Konkona Sen Sharma -Sena Gupta starrer was everything that I was waiting to see in Indian cinema.
Basu tells the interwaoven story of three modern Bengali women like him- navigating the ‘Life in the metro’, they their own expectations, their careers, family, and relationships- a little tired from inside, yet life is, and they keep making options with their hearts in this highly-clapical world.
Sorry, if I give you a spiler-but if you are expecting a metro … Dino is a life-changing or a story with which everyone can be resonant, you have booked the wrong seats. However, what the film does represents a modern Indian woman – a little flawed, slightly torn in dilemmas, even while fighting the old patriarchal mindset, is trying to fit the expectations of the society’s “right” daughter, wife and mother.
I asked my mother, “Keno?”
“Why didn’t you find this realistic?”
She said, “Can a woman really leave her husband, live with her ex -boyfriend, and come back as if nothing happened?” – Referring to one of the characters in the film.
And Oh, she was definitely not a fan of Pritam and the band was appearing on the screen every few minutes. When I only heard his opinion, I thought but in the film, the husband of the said character was also concerned. He adjusted. She stopped.
And it did not raise questions?
But the woman who chooses herself for a few days too?
Here is how I will defend the characters:
Any woman in the film – Shivani, Chumki, Kajol, or even Shruti are perfect.
They have their own set of complications, indecency and mistakes.
But watching them was a breath of fresh air because none of them were typist as “Pataka rebel” or “naive, naive ladki”.
Each character had its own nuances, and in my opinion, none of them is glorified. It only shows women to choose themselves and their feelings at the end of the day, even if it is a little “wrong” or “condemnable” for the society.
Another character I liked was Kajol. While we all love Pankaj Tripathi and Monty “Cyrie, Cyrie, Sisodia” (if you know, you know), Konakona plays a character that many women can be related: A woman who thinks that she does not want to be like her mother – she is still ending – adjustment, her husband’s mistakes.
Just at that moment, I asked myself: How does this society work? Does the woman always have to adjust?
But thankfully, the character acted on his anger, chose himself on everything, even if it is only for a few days.
While many of us wanted him to forgive for an attempt to cheat Monty, I am happy that he chose his ego. He felt that the man could be worth giving another chance – but only after acting on all those complex feelings.
Character Chumki (starred by Sara Ali Khan) is also a powerful example of how, still, women are discriminated against – still how, they cannot really be free from social expectations.
She normalizes silence instead of collision, quietly permanent – until a day, it all goes out. One day, you just have to show your feelings – not as a weakness, but as a result of carrying everything alone, even with partners, friends and family.
And when we have talked enough about three Bengali women, it is not appropriate to leave Fatima Sana Sheikh’s Shruti – a very suitable depiction of how women are not always helpful or happy in relationships despite loved their colleagues. Sometimes, no matter what a woman has to make a difficult choice – whether she stays together for her career for a couple, or abortion to a child because the husband is not ready.
Shruti’s marriage and character are dirty as real life. Because honestly, who is right? Who does not face the dilemma of giving priority to family or career and doing so without guilt?
It is allowed to mess up the Jhunuk (Darshan Banik), or the women of Ahana Kumra – Basu’s women. They are multi-dimensional; Even when the society tries to shape it, they still have their own mind.
While my mother thought that there is no plot in the film, I believe this is a very important story that shows our everyday life.
At the end of all this, the metro … reminds us of some clich in dino, yet it is necessary: you have to love again and again with the same person – even if that person is you, and even if it means to forgive your mistakes.
(The opinion shared here belongs to the author and does not reflect the ideas of Zee News.)
