You are looking at it the wrong way.
The Mum was not racist because her husband was drunk. Her character was being used to depict your average Punjabi. Most Punjabis/North Indians are ignorant of the South Indian culture. As in real life, they call all South Indians as 'madrasis' when in fact there are several different types of South Indians.
The portrayal of South Indians as mellow and meek is ridiculous and fairly stupid.
It was done to contrast it with the dominating, loud, intolerant and over-the-top Punjabis.
Everyone keeps referring to Alia as being "fair for a South Indian" and this is supposed to be a compliment.
Again, it was used to depict the reality. Most North Indians, being ignorant as they are, assume that all South Indians are dark-skinned.
So the movie pretty much shows the major troubles of most women in India - not as something that should be radically changed but as the norm and (should be learnt to live with it)!
The mum finally does come around and accepts Ananya as it is - so what the movie actually shows is that women do
not have to live with these troubles.
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uh, what do I know ?!?
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dramaqueen_of_the_century
9 years ago
I didn't say she was racist because her husband was a drunk. I said, was I supposed to forgive her racism because I was meant to feel sorry for her as her husband is a drunk?
Like, "Oh poor you, what a horrible marriage you have, that totally excuses you for your prejudiced and offensively stereotypical ways."
Yes, the whole "fair for a South Indian" thing is depicting the ignorance of society and that is what I meant. Nobody calls them out on their ignorance, Alia doesn't really try to defend herself, so the ignorant society you speak of will watch the movie and find its views completely acceptable.
So, society functions under the stupid illusions and self-hatred that comes with it.
Maybe the whole thing wouldn't have been so bad had the actress actually been South Indian. I just found it so cringeworthy.
It doesn't matter the mum accepts her, that wasn't even close to what I said. The ideal Indian women and what society expects from her is so mind bogglingly ridiculous.
This film just tells society, "Yes, you should expect the impossible from women and anything less than means you should tell them they aren't good enough, preferably, to their face."
1. The ideal women is expected to earn as much as her husband but won't be treated as an equal.
2. She'll be expected to do the housework even if she works longer hours than her spouse.
3. She'll have to know how to cook and accept your family's emotional baggage without a word. (The parents' marriage)
4. Not to forget, she'll have to be whiter than snow. Both skin color wise and as pure the driven snow.
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joelbarrish
9 years ago
...was I supposed to forgive her racism because I was meant to feel sorry for her as her husband is a drunk?
No. The drunk and abusive father angle is there to show the strained relationship between Chetan Bhagat and his father in real life.
...Alia doesn't really try to defend herself, so the ignorant society you speak of will watch the movie and find its views completely acceptable.
I agree that nobody explicitly tried to tell the Mum that she was wrong. But the audience is expected to know that Mum is the
villain and hence wrong in whatever she does/says. I really don't know how to better explain this, so never mind :)
This film just tells society, "Yes, you should expect the impossible from women and anything less than means you should tell them they aren't good enough, preferably, to their face."
While I agree that this may be true in general, I really don't see this movie promoting all these ideas.
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uh, what do I know ?!?
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