Saawariya

Hey folks...this review is a bit serious huh...unlike me! - probably was in a good mood while writng this...

Catch Phrase : Every Child is Special.

Movie is focused on the finer aspects of upbringing a child. Shows that when parents themselves are unaware of the problems of their own children, how can outsiders / society be expected to understand the individual !? Lets discuss the matter under 2 sub headings – Agreeable Points, Disagreeable Points.

Agreeable Points :

1. The initial reaction of Ishaan’s father upon hearing that his son is a dyslexic. Firstly he was blissfully unaware of the fact that there is such a disease ! And secondly upon hearing that his son is suffering from such an abnormality, he reacted vehemently- to the extent of even abusing the school authorities right in front of the child. This is a very common reaction seen among parents – they are not very involved in their child’s progress and are more bothered about their personal egos. Since Ishaan’s elder brother was always ranking first in his class, so it was taken for granted that Ishaan should also be good in studies. This is another problem in many families – sibling comparison.

Thus the point to note here is the fact that parents should be more involved and spend more quality time with their children and at least identify the basic problem areas and needs of their children and try to solve it within home premises lest it becomes public and causes humiliation to the child.

2. Hostel is never a solution. The most touching song of the movie ‘Maa’ – every child - be it a son or daughter, needs to know that they are ‘loved’ and ‘needed’. This feeling can only be given at the home front. The term ‘Home’ itself should exude the feeling that he/she is heading to an abode where he/she will be loved and adored unconditionally. Being sent away from ‘Home’ can itself cause enough disturbances to a sensitive heart. This is very well depicted by Ishaan’s change in attitude and mannerisms once he is left alone in the hostel.

3. Some of the teachers were shown as sarcastic and ruthless with a non-caring attitude. It is also shown that school education is given only to pass the exams and so the clever students do and say exactly what the teacher teaches! For example the Hindi teacher expected the students to recite his explanation verbatim. Also the Drawing teacher actually had the audacity to hit the child because he was inattentive!

Disagreeable Points:


1. Once it was identified that Ishaan was suffering from dyslexia, he should have been sent to another school or maybe a provision should be kept in a school with different sections – the brighter ones in Section A and the academically below average ones in latter sections. It cannot be expected from a teacher to stop proceeding with the syllabus just because a single student is failing to understand the topic! The entire class cannot be expected to bear with a single ‘dyslexic’ child’s difficulty in understanding a simple thing.

In fact children of same IQ, when segregated, can do better because the pressure of unnecessary academic competition is lesser. If below average students are made to compete with children having a higher IQ, they tend to grow up into frustrated and depressed individuals since after they pass out of school and get mediocre jobs in the professional world, they are more likely to become rebels with zero work attitude. The fact that they studied till late night and somehow managed to get a good result does not necessarily guarantee a good job because the professional world seeks real talent and will not recruit someone with just mugged up bookish knowledge. This can cause enough frustration to an individual. Therefore its better that the tendencies of the child is deciphered by the time he /she is 12 to 14 years of age and handled accordingly. This needs a close parent-teacher association that is totally lacking in Indian schools.

Gosh! Ghost story. The last straw on the camel’s back. Yet again the futility of the sacrifice of the Indian freedom fighters comes alive. After movies like Hey Ram, Pinjar, 1947 Earth, which more or less showed that people were more bothered about their personal animosity and were taking personal revenge rampantly, we have another movie here – showing the pains of sacrifice suffered by a Lady ‘freedom fighter supporter’ !



Story:



The lady, Gayatri, belongs to a family which was intensely involved in the struggle for Indian independence. One day a man stumbles into her house – a huge castle in fact - and proclaims to be a freedom fighter but turns out to be a British spy responsible for killing 90 freedom fighters by informing about their hide-out to the British officials. Gayatri seduces him and keeps him engaged while she sends her maid to inform her father about the villain’s presence in the house. Her father comes and hangs him to death.



Because it was late 19th century, women were expected to be chaste virgins till their death I guess! Thus in spite of the fact that she saved other freedom fighters from their untimely death (because of the greedy Indian informer) by giving up her virginity, she is still considered an outcaste and thus leads the rest of her life alone in seclusion and dies a painful death after a long illness! Why? Tie your safety belts folks….because while dying, the villain said that he’ll take her spirit/ soul with him – wherever he goes and will not rest in peace until he succeeds in doing so !



Thus the castle becomes haunted!! Whoever tries to break the house meets with untimely death under uncanny circumstances.



Scene II – A hindu guy (Hero) is in love with an orphan girl (Lisa - Heroine) – who is half British and half Indian – ie. some Indian dame, upon finding a handsome and fair British stud – maybe a soldier or officer, copulated with him blissfully. But this fact was not acceptable by the then Indian males – maybe because they never got a chance to ‘do the needful’ with fair skinned and pretty English Ladies – they were not even allowed to touch them in fact ….. just an assumption. But as far as men are concerned – be it Indian or British – they are pretty broad minded regarding ‘copulating’ with anyone or everyone they meet – irrespective of class, creed, color etc… (refer. Mangal Pandey where the dark skinned, uncouth and ugly prostitutes were used to entertain the British soldiers) …..so I guess this Indian female had a gala time with the British fella – but her ‘gala time’ was short lived since the Indian thugs killed the stud and were about he kill the female as well but because she was pregnant, they left her!



Thus a half Indian and half British looking girl was born. Because of her British blood, she was fair and thus lovely as well. So the Hero of the movie falls in love with the fair and lovely dame (a rare combination during those days as the average Indian females around must be short, dark and ugly as well!) – much to his parents’ disapproval. They even tie her to the car and were about to set her ablaze when their son rescues her and discards all religious threads and oaths saying that if religion separated two ‘love birds’ – he will not accept such a religion!



He thus leaves his parents and goes ahead to marry her and settle down elsewhere. The role of parents ends here – thus showing the fact that such separation has been happening since eons – once the child grows up and becomes financially independent, he/she does not need parents anymore….I wonder why people still copulate and bring forth thankless souls on earth…!!



Tie your safety belts yet again folks – this Lisa is Gayatri’s reborn soul !! And as luck would have it – the Hero, who is an architect, is given the job of breaking the Gayatri’s castle and build a hotel there!!



So they reach there. The villain’s soul that had been haunting the house for so many years, recognizes Lisa (as Gayatri), possesses her – causes a whole lot of trouble to her and her husband and at the end – Hanuman Chalisa saves the show ! The villian’s souls is destroyed and yester-era Gayatri alias Lisa finds someone to love her after all. They live happily ever after.



Conclusion: One should give up sacrificing altogether folks !! If this is the result of sacrifice . . .then something’s is terribly wrong with the term ‘sacrifice’ itself. Beware of sacrificing…be very aware …lest you could suffer like Gayatri…and keep suffering in the next life as well – as Lisa !! – gosh! No more sacrifice for me…what about you? !!