In one of the first scenes in Thappad, a film about a doting husband who unexpectedly assaults his loving wife for the first time at a party, I noticed a Gustav Klimt (Austrian symbolist artist) painting on the wall which tells me that the people who reside in that apartment are worldly and sophisticated.
In other words, I wouldn’t have expected blatant misogyny to be festering in a bougie, seemingly leftist abode.
And therein lies the beauty of the film – it’s deeply nuanced. A rarity in commercial Hindi cinema.
Every character is multilayered – we expect something and get something else entirely. An alpha female attorney who is hailed by media outlets as a feminist trailblazer harbors dangerously patriarchal views while sansakari middle-class Indian fathers are more progressive than some of their richer, more educated counterparts.
The film benefits from this as well as Anubhav Sinha’s nimble orchestrating of sensitive topics and turbulent events. Thappad is definitely the auteur’s most accomplished work to date. Taapsee Pannu’s too. All notions of her aping delusional, toxic rightwingers with abrasive sisters must now be stricken.
Thappad is also, without a shadow of a doubt, inspired by the popular Aussie show, The Slap which also revolves around a slap that causes a ripple effect throughout a community. But this is a different cultural beast altogether that deserves to be commended for how it effectively addresses burgeoning issues that relate to Indians and Indians alone.
If only Sinha did not once again resort to cheap, soap opera musical cues – which ruined Article 15 for me – throughout the film, Thappad could have easily been the film of the year. But for now, it’ll have to settle for excellent and haunting.
