THAPPAD

This lockdown has been crazy but one of the upsides is that it allowed me to see a lot of old movies. I especially love Bollywood movies and I watched some of the old ones that I saw when I was little but didn’t understand back then. I also came across a recent one called Thappad which means “the slap”. Thappad is a 2020 Indian movie in Hindi Language and am not going to give much away because I want people to see this movie, take in the message and just apply it to their life or society.

So the storyline revolves around the female protagonist, Amrita, who is a housewife happy to take care of her husband, mother-in-law and the household. Her husband, Vikram had been working very hard to secure a promotion as head of the London branch of the company he worked for. During a party to celebrate her husband’s promotion, Vikram receives a call that the position had been given to another. Angry about the news, Vikram confronts one his superiors who was at the party and while Amrita was trying to calm him down, he slaps her in front of some of the guests and walks away.

The happy home isn’t so happy after that incident and I wondered why. Questions popped into my head like had there been previous incidents of abuse? Where past skeletons about to be revealed? I wondered why she didn’t just confront him, get him to apologize and move on after all it was just “one slap”.

One slap which got her questioning who she had become and how different she was from the college girl who wanted only two things in life: respect and happiness.  One slap in which no one cared how she felt even family members saw it as no big deal “it’s a family thing and you’re the woman”. One slap in which years later she may end up being her mother-in-law, an unhappy woman who only lived to make her sons and husband happy. One slap which left unresolved would result to Amrita hating her husband in the long run.

That one slap makes one wonder why there is this unspoken rule that women had to accept domestic abuse and unfair treatment for the sake of family image, pride and keeping the home together.

That one slap lent strength not just to Amrita but to other female characters in the movie like the fierce lawyer who was made to feel inferior by her husband got the courage to say no to mental and psychological abuse from her husband; like the maid who was turned to a punching bag and breadwinner by her husband finally fought back; like the widow who was just content and happy being a single mother, and didn’t allow herself to succumb to the idea that she needed a man to complete her.  

And there is also the reality that those little things we don’t tackle sometimes turn into ugly wounds that fester and destroy not just marriages but relationships in general.

Thappad is an all-round beautiful and thought provoking movie, so let me know what you think once you see it. Laterz.