Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015)
Lower middle-class Prem Prakash Tiwari owns a small cassette tape
shop in the local market in the year 1995, living at home with his
parents and aunt, with little ambition to do anything with his life.
He is a high school dropout and his family struggles to make ends
meet, until one day Prem's father comes up with a plan to arrange a marriage for Prem
to a well-educated middle class woman. She has credentials and plans
to become a teacher, thus providing more stable income for their
whole family. Prem is reluctant, and even more so when he meets his
bride, Sandhya, and sees she is overweight. What happens when an
acquaintance makes a bet with Prem's family over who will win the
local wife-carrying race? Will the new couple be able to accept their
arranged marriage, or will the immature Prem ruin his chances at a
loving relationship?
*I
liked the transformation Prem experiences as he grows to appreciate
his wife, show his vulnerable side, and as she too learns to support
and love him. There is a scene where she slaps Prem (a well-deserved
hit for calling her a fat cow in public while drunk), but he
immediately slaps her back. That was hard for me to watch, since in
America it is culturally unacceptable for a man to strike a woman,
ever. Prem was chastized and beaten by his father afterwards, but
there didn't seem to be as much shock over his behavior as I was
expecting. It was also interesting how relatable this film was on
several levels, since most people are virgins in the Indian culture
when they marry, just like in the LDS culture. (It doesn't show
anything, just a little kissing). I would say this film is close to a
mild PG-13, simply because of some of the subject matter which
included talk of suicide and marital relations. I might watch this
again.*
