Suresh Triveni's
Tumhari Sulu is a delightful film about Sulochana, affectionately known as Sulu (Vidya Balan). She is a housewife and is married to Ashok (Manav Kaul). Sulu wants to do something in life, and has many different ideas. Sulu likes to do
everything and does not let her lack of academic qualifications deter her. She loves to participate in contests and competitions of all kinds. A win in one such contest lands her a job as a radio jockey (RJ) at Radio Wow. She becomes the host of a late-night show where she becomes the Saree-vali Bhabhi, like Savita Bhabhi, and talks to people (mainly men), giving solutions to their problems.
The consistently repeating theme that we see throughout
Tumhari Sulu is that of women, especially, working women. These women are shown everywhere in the film. Initially, in the first few scenes of the film, Sulu watches a
woman driving an
Ola cab, and gets an idea that she should start her own cab company. Sulu's neighbors are two
women, working as air hostesses, whom she often greets when they come back from work. When Sulu is looking for a job, she goes to a gym where the caretaker is a pregnant
woman. After Sulu starts working at Radio Wow, the driver assigned to pick-and-drop Sulu from her place is a married
woman, who tells Sulu that her husband left her after she started working. At another point in the film, Sulu visits her sisters and one of her sisters tells the
maid Kamla to stop cleaning the floor. Her small presence is also mentioned in the film. In another scene in the film, a
policewoman is seen driving a two-wheeler, taking her son to school and telling him to not forget to eat his lunch. When Sulu's son Pranav goes missing, the inspector who comes at Sulu's house is again a
woman. Sulu's twin sisters are also working
women, who are employed at a bank. Radio Wow is led and run primarily by
women—there is Maria, Albeli Anjali, and the 'convent-educated' receptionist. The film itself is about Sulu's desire to do something. It also has the grace to include transgender women, another underrepresented community of women. In a lovely scene, a transgender woman stands next to Sulu in a bus and seems a little hesitant to sit on the seat, as it is reserved for women. Sulu sees her and gestures her to sit next to her. It is in these moments the film tries to acknowledge women from all walks of life.
The film's song
Farrata is a lovely tribute to not just Sulu, but to all the common women, whom we don't see often. We see that Sulu is called a
champion quite a few times in the film. When she participates in the lemon-and-spoon race, Ashok calls her a
champion. Sulu's sisters
Haina-Didi, Haan-Didi also call her a champion all the time. When Sulu visits Maria at her office, the nameplate in her office states that she is a
champion. In the end, when Sulu is thinking of quitting, she again tells Maria that she is truly a
champion. It is this sense of
championship of common women, who are managing their household and professional duties, that the film celebrates. It is no coincidence that the office of Radio Wow is shown to be located at
Inspire BKC building. It is these women, inspirational in their own way, who are acknowledged and recognized in the film.
Tumhari Sulu opens with the sequence where Sulu is shown to be participating in a lemon-and-spoon race. When the timer begins, all the women run past her, but Sulu waits to balance the lemon on the spoon. Many other women subsequently drop out as their lemon falls; however, Sulu manages to complete the race without dropping out, even though she does not win the race. In the end, when Sulu is talking to Maria about resigning, she tells her that she never bothered about winning or losing the lemon-and-spoon race as her only focus was that the lemon should not fall. Sulu felt that it was her work that caused a '
daandi gol' in her household responsibilities; hence, she wanted to stop working. The lemon remaining intact symbolized the balance that many married and working women have to maintain between their professional and their household work. This lemon-and-spoon race was pointing to this sense of delicate equilibrium.
The other trope that is present in the film is that of flying. A pigeon, whom Sulu jokingly calls
Bhagyashree ki bachchi (because of the pigeon in
Maine Pyar Kiya), keeps visiting her house. The pigeon is, actually, present at many other stages in the film. The film's posters also show a pigeon in them. The sound of birds, especially, that of a crow and that of a pigeon, can be heard all through the film. Sulu's ringtone is
Koyal Si Teri Boli from
Beta, again, quite fitting not just to her voice but also to her desire to fly. The film shows Sulu dancing on
Hawa Hawai from
Mr. India. She is also shown as superwoman with a red cape, who is trying to fly. After Sulu agrees to do the show, Maria tells her, "
So we are ready to fly?" The song
Manwa Likes To Fly yet again underscores Sulu's soaring desire to fly and to fulfill her many ideas.
Manva pankh phaila ke likes to fly.
One of my most favorite scenes in Zoya Akhtar's
Luck By Chance is the one where Sona (Konkona Sensharma) comes back to her house and finds out that she has won a refrigerator in a competition. After the refrigerator is kept inside her house, she takes a chair and keeps looking at it with its door open. There is no dialogue in the scene, yet, I find those ten seconds so devastating in what it is trying to say. She remembers the time when she did not even want to fill the form for the participating in the competition. She had dismissed the very idea of it, but it was Vikram (Farhan Akhtar) who filled the competition form for her, telling her that if she filled the form, there is at least some chance of her winning, but if she did not participate, then, there was absolutely no chance of her winning. At a later point, he tells Sona that he does not believe in the concept of luck and destiny as these words are for those who do not have the capability in them to make their own life. Vikram was selfish and manipulative, but he had the
hunger and the
passion to get he wanted, unlike his friend Abhimanyu (Arjun Mathur), who was content in doing small roles.
Woh aag nahi hai usme. In the end, Vikram manages to become a big film star. Sona gets the refrigerator as Vikram's slogan, "
No Frost, No Cost," was declared the winner, and she realizes that, perhaps, Vikram was right all along. It is futile to blame your misfortunes on
kismat, instead one should focus on
making chances to fulfill one's dreams. When Sulu wins a pressure cooker in Prestige '
Sawaal Batao Seeti Bajao' contest, I got reminded of the refrigerator scene from
Luck By Chance. At some other point in
Tumhari Sulu, Sulu is listening to a show on the radio while grating carrots and the voice on the radio tells her, "
Aap ki kismat aapke haath main. Heere ko chamakne me waqt lagta hai. Ghiste ghiste hi woh heera chamakta hai. Aapne me bhi hai woh baat toh sochna kya." Your destiny is in your hands. Diamonds don't shine in a day. But on constant polishing, it starts shining. You have the talent, so, don't think twice. It is to note that the scenes in the two films are, essentially, talking about the same message that one needs to make their own destiny. Sulu participated in all kinds of competitions and managed to win some of those. And, it was her participation in one of the contests that eventually paved the way for her to get a chance to be an RJ. She used to always say, "
Main kar sakti hai." I can do it. She was persistent. Maria, in fact, tells Pankaj that Sulu had the
hunger in her (like Vikram had) to do something. While Sona gets the refrigerator due to Vikram, Sulu wins a pressure cooker (and many other things), but the larger point that the two films are trying to make using the competitions is the same, that one makes his own destiny. In addition, the two films also share the trope of flying.
I am not entirely sure about the purpose but it must be mentioned that
Tumhari Sulu is making some kind of a point by showing the environment of Sulu's son
and her husband as
all-male spaces. Pranav's school is an all-boys
school where the teacher and the principal are men. Ashok's office is also an all-male workplace, that is in the business of making
school uniforms, where the kids are replaced with older men. At many points, the film juxtaposes the scenes of boys fighting in the school with the men fighting at Ashok's office. This juxtaposition of scenes was also seen at Sulu's house, where in the morning, Sulu wakes up Pranav, and immediately the next shot cuts to Ashok waking up. Maybe it has to with the influence that women bring to workspaces, as we also see the difference in the behavior of female bosses and male bosses in the film. Ashok's manager displays abhorrent behavior towards him and puts the blame for his own faults on Ashok. He calls Ashok a nincompoop when he did nothing wrong. He tells Ashok to put his
eyes down while talking to him. In contrast, we see Maria encourages Sulu to work. She tells Sulu, "
Upar chadhte waqt neeche mat dekh." Don't
look down while climbing up. One is saying to look down, and the other is saying to not look down.
The film beautifully depicts the marital relationship of Ashok and Sulu, something which we don't see often in films. They sing S.P. Balasubrahmanyam's
Batata Wada (from
Hifazat) together in bed. She asks him, "
Ashok, mere pair daba do," when she feels tired. She lovingly calls him as meek as a cow. In the initial moments of the film, we see him holding her bag while she participates in the race. He is worried about losing his hair due to aging. We see their conversation ends with shots of apartment buildings, perhaps, a signal that this could be a couple in any of these apartments. The song
Ban Ja Rani shows them, dancing, flirting, and engaging in foreplay. When Sulu's show becomes a hit, and Ashok is having problems at his job, it felt that the film was going into
Abhimaan territory, but it does not completely venture down that path. Ashok was not jealous of Sulu. He started feeling that Sulu was neglecting her household responsibilities.
I was a little confused in the end as I thought that Sulu left her job to start a food delivery business with Ashok. The whole climactic sequence felt rushed. It was only when she goes back to the radio office that I fully got it. Also, like we see it in R.Balki's films, there is a focus on promoting certain brands in the film, such as
Boroline,
Cheeselings, and
Panasonic. The gift card scene also became another opportunity to showcase a jewelry brand. Since Suresh Triveni has been an advertising professional, maybe, it is hard to let go of an opportunity to advertise.
The film will not be what it is if Sulu was played by someone else other than Vidya Balan. She is simply outstanding as Sulu. Tumhari Sulu is her second role where she plays an RJ. Her first role where she played one was in Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai. There is not one false note in her performance. And, her laughter is infectious. She is a gift to all of us. There is a point where Ayushmann Khurrana asks for her autograph. Vidya is so brilliant as Sulu that even I want an autograph of her. Manav Kaul as Ashok is equally fantastic. Neha Dhupia seems to have perfected the role of an urban sophisticated woman. I found her to be very graceful in the film.
