And they lived happily ever after

Indian cinema reflects the social ethos from which marriage has sprung. It is not divorced from its socio-cultural context. In quick succession, we have three films focussed on marriage—Vivaah, Just Married and Honeymoon Travels Private Limited, writes Shoma A. Chatterji

IT is the marriage season in Bollywood and I am talking about the celebration of the actual event of marriage, sagai, doli, saugat, mehdi, the works, which is currently on an overdrive in recent Hindi films. Rajashri Films set the ball rolling with Vivaah, which appeared like a salve after the disastrous Karan Johar bombshell Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. I am not casting aspersions on the directorial abilities of Karan. Nor am I raising questions about the cinematographic qualities of the film. I am talking about the shock waves it sent across most Indian viewers at home though beyond Indian borders, the film is said to have hit the box office jackpot.

Indian cinema reflects the social ethos from which marriage has sprung. It is not divorced from its socio-cultural context. Marriage in mainstream Indian cinema has shown the same evolution with few exceptions that do not, however, prove the rule since the beginning of the silent era till the techno-gizzmo-filled films of today like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge (1995), or Dil to Pagal Hai (1997) and Hum Saath Saath Hai. In quick succession, we have three films focussed on marriage—Vivaah, Just Married and Honeymoon Travels Private Limited. One does not know for certain whether HTPL is on marriage or not but the name should be a giveaway.

The contradictory elements of westernisation of surface factors like style of dress, decoration of homes, the mise-en-scene on the one hand and the Indian-ness of values, morals, conventional narrative structure on the other, produce popular culture at any moment in time. All these films stand out because they refuse to play second fiddle to western capitalism or commit themselves to ape its ideology, attitude or apparatuses, unlike their counterparts in the commercial mainstream. At the same time, they are basically committed to profiteering and power in terms of popularity and ticket sales. They have realised the business potential of defining an identity that can only be sold and marketed through the Indian ethos and Indian image.

But the story goes back to Hum Aapke Hai Kaun, till recently counted among the top box office hits of all time. It has been variously described as "the world’s largest toothpaste ad", or "a moving marriage album that runs for three hours." But the rituals were a celebration of the institution of marriage. Sooraj Kumar Barjatiya tried to repeat the story in Hum Saath Saath Hai but too many characters spoilt the dish because the script demanded several tracks and diffused the focus—marriage. When Barjatiya finally struck on courtship followed by arranged marriage crowned with a dramatic and strikingly unusual climax, he won the hearts of the masses with Vivaah. The young pair of a beautifully built-up Amrita Rao as the waiting bride and the smashing and smart Shahid Kapoor as her fianc`E9 who fall madly in love with each other, mature over the relationship nurtured over the span of a few months. Then, just when the marriage rituals are to begin, her face is completely disfigured as the result of an accident. But no one from the groom’s side raises any questions, including the groom himself. The marriage is performed in the hospital while she is getting into plastic surgery or something like that.

Meghna Gulzar’s second directorial film Just Married promises to be a celluloid exploration of what happens in an arranged marriage scenario in contemporary times when two total strangers suddenly discover that they are man and wife. Sounds incredible? What else do you expect of a mainstream film targeted at entertainment?

Two people, Esha Deol and Fardeen Khan, —clever, young, happy and otherwise successful—get married. But the problem is: They don’t even know each other. Thousands of such arranged marriages still take place every year, no, not just in rural or small town India but all over modern metropolitan India where hip, young, today’s people celebrate their independence from archaic traditions and old-fashioned values. Yet they succumb to the pressures of an arranged marriage. And now these two people have to learn how to live with each other. They have to set aside their own identities and discover each other, emotionally, intellectually, and sexually. And thus begins a new journey.

Just Married is about a magic, weeklong honeymoon in the picturesque Ooty hills where two young people are thrown together, both trying desperately hard to make their marriage, their relationship work. Will they succeed? Will the other couples in the hotel show them the way or will they too go through their own relationship traumas, further confounding the newly weds? What happens when a terrible crisis hits them all? They all live happily ever after!

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