Review - The Ideal Bride

This 8 min 44 sec short film looks at the life of Indian brides . The story revolves around  Phuleri , a newly married Indian bride who has entered her marital home with a bunch of hopes and happiness .

The film has shown her life from the time she entered marriage hood to being a not so unfortunate widow , who is dancing out of grief of her husband and is feeling free.

Her marital journey starts from kitchen and throughout her married life ,she stays maximum in the kitchen doing all the household chores for the family and listening to their taunts about being left handed person, being uneducated or for being born a woman. She is called unlucky for the family as she is a left handed woman. She is expected to be reserved , perform all sorts of households without holding any opinion.

                                        

The story is beautifully narrated within the walls of kitchen where apparently, women are supposed to be after marrige .

The kitchen, in the film, is shown as the inner core of her heart , where no one enters except her son who was about to enter but was stopped by his father.

In every scene of the film the colour of her saree changes from colourful to dull as if portraying the shades of her life that gradually change from hopeful to hopeless.

The film ends with a very strong message that don't cage a person to this extent that they feel free when you leave one day!

Bulbul : The Journey of a little innocent bride to woman of strength !!

India ,  the place where   woman is abused where  woman is expected to be opinionless , where woman is positioned as the second citizen , where woman is never the first priority , where it is not necessary for a woman to be educated , where women have to compromise and the irony is that a woman is idolised as goddess is worshipped in the temples.

There are  a few movies which represent the bitter truth  of the society and Bulbul is definitely one of them .

Bulbul is a story of an innocent child bride turned forcefully into the  lady of manor. 

The movie is set in 1881  in Bengal , when it was just a normal fact that girls were sent into marriage at a very tender age as they were thought to be nothing but burden for the family.

The movie starts with Bulbul, a little girl , getting married  to an older wealthy man Indranil . She thought her life after marriage will be fun with Satya listening to his horror stories and playing with him (Satya is the youngest brother of Indranil ) but over the time the covered up lies of haveli begin to reveal themselves.

A leap of 20 years and movie shows Satya's return to the Haveli after 5 years of studying law and he sees everything has changed. The girl he left behind was totally changed and meanwhile got to know about the strange tale of Chudail ( demon woman) in the village who has killed his brother Mahendra ,who is specially abled and happens to be the twin of Indra.

The tale makes Satya  curious to hunt Chudail and find what's happening around. Gradually, the story unwraps itself and shows the abuse happened with Bulbul ( Badi Bahu ) by  Indra  and Mahendra.

Bulbul is asked to stay silent about it by her sister in law Binodini (Choti Bahu ) who is very cunning but also deep down has a relation of sisterhood with Bulbul . She, in a strong monologue, quotes about "Badi Haveli ke Bade raaz" ( Big Mansions have bigger secrets ) .

The movie is visually very beautiful with perfect costumes .Bulbul  is not about violence or about a  love story. It is much more about Indian Patriarchy and women abuse .The story is about the journey of a girl beautifully innocence to a woman of commendable strength !!! 

Shakuntala Devi Review .

Shakuntala  Devi , first Indian female mathematician   who belonged to a normal middle class family , from earning bread for her family by doing mathematical shows in England in her signature colorful sarees and pigtails  to being denoted as " Human computer "or  getting name in the Guinness book of world record marked her name in the history of Mathematics

She did India proud at every stage of her life but what we get to see in newspapers and other new platforms about a celebrity or an achiever, is that all they have done. Their personal struggles that might have hit them harder stay behind the curtains.

                                                                                      

   

                                            

Admi kyu....main sabse badi aurat banugi "  little Shakuntala states when she started earning bread for the family.

Based on the life of Shakuntala Devi, Vidhya Balan is seen  playing  her role in the movie Shakuntala Devi and actor Sanya Malhotra can be seen as her daughter Anupama Banerji.

The movie has beautifully highlighted the  relationship between the mother and daughter duo but did never forget to show the achievements of Shakuntala simultaneously.

Vidhya Balan stole the show , she charismatically portrayed the journey of the  younger Shakuntala who is earning for her family by doing shows in England  to a vulnerable mother who is trying every bit to be a perfect mother.

She wrote  a book on homosexuality which is first of it's kind in India. From learning astrology to fighting politics against Indira Gandhi , she did it all , all that she wanted in life. Sankuntala was blunt and much ahead the time which made her different from others of her age.

The life of Shakuntala Devi is the best pick  to show all that an  ambitious aspiring woman suffers to balance her personal and professional lives. The movie is quite relaxing and good to watch with family.