Kriti Malhotra

Most Beautiful Thing ‘Coisa Mais Linda’ is quite what it is, the ‘Most Beautiful Thing.’ Maria Luiza (Maria Casadevall), the protagonist is betrayed, cheated on, stolen from and abandoned by her husband. She has to make a choice: either go back to her old city or build a new life for herself from the scratch in a new one. The webseries wraps up dense themes and intermingled narratives in a seemingly light way. It has been able to achieve this paradox by using music ( dreamers,players and lovers of music), small dreams (such as Maria Luiza’s dream of taking her son to the beach), and light memorable moments of friendship and love. Notwithstanding the aesthetics that occupy the screen. The themes are varied and no subplot is a trifle: filial love, romantic love, racism, friendship, professional and personal lives, and the sense of place. However, it is majorly a women-centric drama. These women are ‘different’ (read: too modern) for their time, and struggle to curve out independent names for themselves; that is where the society starts conflicting. Much of the society concurs eventually. My verdict: I found Coisa Mais Linda extremely refreshing and soul-satisfying after being bombarded with mostly shallow and trending media. I hope the new season is out soon.

‘My Black-Colored Face’ -Kriti Malhotra In a country in which one’s sexuality determines the color of one’s face, Sweety Chaudhary (Sonam Kapoor) musters up the spirit to defy her family-imposed restrictions and gets her face colored black; only to an inspiring end. ‘All’s well that ends well’, after all! Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga (EL) is a dramatic comedy that is colored with the various shades of contemporariness- sexual orientation, alternative professionalism, gender equality and inter-religiosity to name a few. Sweety, the girl with a frivolous name is supposed to be what her family expects of her: sweet, submissive and straight. Her sweetness embitters her own existence and isolates her socially until help knocks at her door in the form of a smitten Sahil Mirza (Rajkummar Rao). Sahil’s entry in Sweety’s life or the other way round propels the plot and the characters forward in a direction that ends well for both of them distinctly as well as collectively. There are other sub-plots that serve various functions: play a role in transforming the characters, provide a social commentary and entertain humorously. The characterization of the movie is extremely impressive. The characters are alluring in themselves and the movie is made dynamic as they collaborate and conflict with one another due to their unique ideologies. Someone believes in bribery; someone believes that men should not cook; someone believes that a Hindu should not marry a Muslim; most of them believe that homosexuality is abnormal. Balbir Choudhary (Anil Kapoor) deserves applause for his acting and persona. He is a considerably progressive man but this is tested when confronted with his daughter’s homosexuality. He says: “I didn’t expect this from you.” It traumatizes him but he transforms because of his own will only. In the present era in which a father’s role in the upbringing and life of the children is almost negligible, his persona showcases an important aspiration of the Indian society; the deeply-rooted desire of having an active and understanding father. Interestingly, the title of the movie: Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga (What I felt when I saw that girl) is multi-purposeful. Initially, it seems befitting for the love-struck Sahil; then, there is an ‘Ahaa!’ moment in which it seems befitting for Sweety’s love-story; eventually, it turns out to be a play within a play. It is noteworthy that the title has been extracted from a very popular Bollywood hindi song and had always been associated with heterosexuality; however, with this movie its implications in the Indian society are likely to change. The scenes have inexpensive settings. Some of the most serious scenes have been rendered comical through dialogues. For instance, when Sweety confesses her love for another woman to the drunk Sahil, he guffaws. The background music is timely and lively. The narration is driven ahead with the help of flashbacks and a bit of suspense. Not only does the movie portray the plight and misery of the oppressed but also offer solutions for them in the form of answers to crucial questions that torment the people today such as: How should homosexuality be destigmatized? (They need to be accepted as ‘normal’ first by the family; in fact, a person who does the contrary should be rightly criminalized.); What should a writer write about to become successful? (In this regard, the movie re-ignites the role of a writer to empathize with the oppressed and use his or her craft to alleviate them; and that would make him successful.); What should be a priority: the individual or what the society opinionates about her? (The former.) The only flaw in the movie is the abject artlessness of the dialogues and the plot! However, overall, it is a masterpiece. It is also a notable contribution to art as well as the society as a whole. The most valuable take-away from it is that it is acceptable and even desirable to have a black-colored face!