Thappad - Review

Thappad is not an easy movie to watch for audience in general and especially to those that grew up believing male-chauvinism is our tradition and patriarchy is the only way of life. For such people I would say avoid this movie because you can not bear the weight of the guilt from this movie. This movie is beyond you. For others, even if you think that you are the extremist liberal types, you are in for a surprise.

Surprisingly, for a movie like this, it does not typecast men or demean men to prove the makers feminism. It shows various kinds of men and how everyone is a victim of this society. Coming to women, they do not go all scot-free in this. They share a fair share of blame too. Tapsee has truly arrived with this one. She has done a beautiful job. She is not fierce instead she is the right amount of sweet and suffering in this. Her expressions in many scenes in the beginning of the movie speak volumes. That expression of a woman lost and yet trying to rearrange the house she gives in the scene right after the incident, is so spot on. She only starts speaking out in the latter part of the movie. Up until that point her expressions make it up and it makes you restless too, a very good ploy by the makers.

Anubhav Sinha is on a very good spree raising the right points with Mulk, Article 15 and now Thappad. The beauty of Thappad is it constantly makes you guilty and instead of becoming defensive it gives you a chance to rise above that guilt and grow up as a human. The movie does not focus only on the obvious things. It very intelligently touches on very subtle things we as a society accepted as norms for women and how they were okay with it too. Tapsee's dad's role starts off as an ideal man but soon you realize he has his own share of follies. It gives you a gentle jolt in the scene where Ratna Pathak Shah tells "yes I compromised too and you very conveniently let me" and he is taken aback. That is my favorite scene of the movie followed by the climax opening up scene. One thing I did not like in the movie is the cheap dig taken out on an out of context dialogue of another recent Bollywood blockbuster director.

Overall, Thappad is a right movie on the right subject.  Its both truth and dare in one.