Thappad is quite a thought provoking story
There is a fine line between making a film on a real story and making one that tells a real story. Taapsee Pannu starrer Thappad firmly falls in the latter category. A powerful and impactful film, Thappad makes you angry and uncomfortable, and, at the same time, it makes you question the everyday misogyny that you willingly ‘adjust to’ in real life. Director Anubhav Sinha refuses to normalize issues that are taken for granted in a regular setup, instead he asserts and reasserts that even if it is ‘just one slap’, why and how can a man get away with it so easily?
And he doesn’t do so with just Taapsee’s story, but shows multiple women across strata facing similar struggles in different forms. However, the multiple stories don’t take away from the continuity of Thappad and Amrita’s story but amplify it.
Sinha captures the nuances of his story and his characters. You don’t feel that you are watching a film in theatre; instead you relate to Taapsee’s Amrita – a strong-headed girl who despite being a trained classical dancer chooses to be a full-time homemaker. From kitchen to the bedroom, she’s a doting wife whose life revolves around her career-oriented and highly ambitious husband, Vikram (Pavail Gulati) and taking care of her ailing grandmother (Tanvi Azmi).
Amrita’s universe turns upside down when Vikram slaps her at a party to celebrate his promotion. When he realizes that his dreams maybe nipped in the bud due to office politics, he vents out on his wife in public. In that moment, Amrita realizes it wasn’t ‘just one slap’ but there are so many more other unfair silent slaps that she had been ignoring for so for long. Will she be able to put her self-esteem over love? Will she forgive Vikram and move on like women are expected to? Will she give her marriage another chance? Thappad delves on all this and more in quite an engaging manner.
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