RAKSHA BANDHAN : A TOXIC, UNFEMINIST STORY TO DRIVE A SOCIETAL MESSAGE IS UNCOOL

CAST: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Khanna, Sadia Khateeb, Smrithi Srikanth, Sahejmeen Kaur, Bhumi Pednekar, Seema Pahwa

DIRECTOR: Aanand L Rai

Indian film-maker Aanand L Rai’s #RakshaBandhan is a regressive, sexist melodrama which ultimately campaigns for a message about the culture of dowry-paying, even though you’ll have to sit through a lot of unfeminist storylines to reach its conclusion.

Akshay Kumar plays Lala, a chaat seller in Old Delhi. Much like  the Victorian society in Bridgeton, Lala is in the predicament of finding husbands for his four sisters and making sure he has enough funds to pay for their dowries. As he promised their mother on her deathbed not to marry himself until he married them off, he keeps his love interest, Sapna, waiting. Sapna’s father issues an ultimatum, saying that Lala has six months to get all his sisters married.

What follows is some excruciatingly obvious so-called comedy ( read drollery) prodding fun at Lala’s seemingly “unmarriageable” sisters. The exception is the oldest sister, Gayatri (Sadia Khateeb), who is traditionally beautiful and obedient.

Next in line, Durga (Deepika Khanna) is obese; Lakshmi (Smrithi Srikanth) is dark-skinned and thus regarded as ugly; the youngest, Saraswati (Sahejmeen Kaur), is a spirited tomboy.

Raksha Bandhan
Akshay Kumar plays Lala, a chaat seller in Old Delhi. Much like the Victorian society in Bridgeton, Lala is in the predicament of finding husbands for his four sisters and making sure he has enough funds to pay for their dowries.

Kedarnath is so concerned about the marriage of his sisters that he impedes his own marriage with his love interest, Sapna (Bhumi Pednekar).

The screenplay makes room for  a line or two in their defense: in one scene Durga refuses to be body shamed.

But mostly, it feels like the audiences are being cajoled to laugh at this chaffing of these women at the expense of building a story.

Raksha Bandhan

The final moment of women being in command of their own lives comes too late to rescue the movie. Till then, the cringeworthy, stereotypical characters with their narrow-minded thinking and really nauseating dialogues continue to rule the screenplay.

In this movie, character development and intensity is retained for the altruistic, magnanimous Lala. He employs a marriage broker (Seema Pahwa) and is ready to do without a kidney to pay for his sisters’ dowries.

Then there is a legitimately touching sequence showcasing a woman in post-marriage life, bullied by her husband and in-laws who see her as a cash cow – with appalling outcomes.

This becomes the trigger for a turn-around of Lala from a hard core misogynst to a progressive facelift.

Despite having the heart of the movie at the right place, some of the screeching nuts and bolts in the storyline are obvious.

What prevents his sisters from picking up his own suitors? Why are the protagonists in this movie all focused on getting married?

Isn’t this movie from 2020? What happened to the voice of the woman?

And even after the “change of heart” – the women have to end up getting married?

Showing toxic content deprecating towards women to arrive at a change of heart story with a message about women rights is absolutely a pathetic way to bring societal change, Mr Akshay Kumar.

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