By Rashi Sabherwal
Angie (Deepika Padukone) lives in the small, whimsical village of Pokkoli in Goa with her busybody mother-in-law Rosie (Dimple Kapadia). She’s never stepped outside of Pokkoli before, she’s been widowed, like Rosie, and her main activities include taking care of Rosie’s home and looking after Angie’s friend Ferdinand (Naseeruddin Shah).
The plot begins moving when Ferdinand receives an undelivered letter that he had sent to the love of his life, Stephanie Fernandes, 46 years ago, asking for her hand in marriage. Realizing that she never knew about his love for her and encouraged by Angie, he decides to go out looking for her. The three of them go on a road trip along with Savio (Arjun Kapoor), Angie’s childhood friend who comes back from Mumbai for his father’s funeral, and Don Pedro (Pankaj Kapur), a self-involved artist who objectifies Rosie by constantly staring at her body, particularly her ass.
The movie passes the Bechdel test because there are two named women characters, and one of their first conversations is about their cat, Narious, having narcolepsy because he sleeps so much. Other than this though, there are almost no conversations that don’t involve a man. Angie and Rosie are mostly passive when it comes to recognizing their needs and taking up space. Instead, they spend their time providing emotional care to the men that surround them and see their own worth in relation to those men. Although there are a few scenes in which we see Angie and Rosie sticking together, these are still in relation to the men around them: Angie protects Rosie from Don Pedro’s creepy glances, and Rosie attempts to protect Angie’s “purity” from being corrupted by Savio. Also, we see Angie expressing her sexual desire towards Savio, but at the end of this encounter, she expectantly asks Savio if the next time will be better, as though his sexuality, not hers, will determine the quality of their next sexual experience.
The two female characters were not particularly strong or inspiring. Angie’s only purpose in the film is to bring people together and keep them happy, while Rosie is portrayed as oblivious and for the most part, insensitive. And when the plot moves forward, it’s usually because of something that Savio does.
The film has a Wes Anderson-esque feel to it (although it fails to live up to the likes of his films), and is a refreshing change from mainstream Bollywood films. Naseeruddin Shah was fantastic and the landscape is beautiful. For these two reasons alone, I recommend watching it. Although once is probably enough.
Rashi Sabherwal is a radical feminist who currently lives in Patna and likes eating chocolate ice cream.