Chaav Laaga from Sui Dhaaga

Sharat Kataria's next film Sui Dhaaga is about to be released soon. The film is a story of entrepreneurship and self-reliance set in small-town India. It stars Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles. Varun plays a tailor named Mauji who seems to be trying to start his own business venture after being fired from a job. Anushka plays Mauji's wife and partner named Mamta.

A few days ago, the song Chaav Laaga from the film was released. The song conveys the idea of marriage as a journey in which the two individuals are equal partners. It is a song that shows togetherness in a marriage. All through the song, there are scenes of the married couple where they are doing things together. Early in the song, Mauji and Mamta walk to the bus stop. Initially, Mamta is a few steps behind Mauji but she catches up with him soon and walks side by side with him. Moments later, they try to catch the bus but it is too crowded. They go inside the bus using different doors. Mamta enters from the front door, while Mauji tries to enter from back door but is left behind as the bus starts moving. However, he runs and manages to enter the bus. At different stages of life, one's spouse will be left behind but the other one waits as both of them are together on this journey. As marriage is compared to a journey, there will be bumps on the way, but the couple has to get pass through them together. This aspect of bumpy rides is visible in the synchronized movement of Mauji-Mamta, and the other passengers sitting inside as well those on the top of the bus. When the bus jerks, the people inside the bus move together in unison, again signifying a kind of togetherness.

Later, there are many other scenes that elaborate on the togetherness of Mamta and Mauji. Kaafi hai tera saath re. Your presence is enough for me. Mamta brings food for Mauji and she tells him that it is the first time after their wedding that they are eating food together. They go to a clothing store together. They hide something from Mauji's father together. They work in the night together. When Mauji is stitching clothes using a paddle-style stitching machine, Mamta sits with him and puts her feet on the paddle as well. When the song ends, the poster asks the audience to join Mamta and Mauji's journey from life partners to business partners. They are partners in every respect. As the title of the film suggests, Mauji and Mamta are also like the sui and dhaaga (needle and thread) complementing the other. 

Sharat Kataria's previous film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, was also based on the theme of marriage. The film's title was taken from a hurdle-style racing competition in which married couples were put through an obstacle course where the husband had to carry the wife on his back. Prem (Ayushmann Khurana) and Sandhya (Bhumi Pednekar) participated in the competition, which became a metaphor for marriage itself. Like the race, a marriage is also full of obstacles where the husband and the wife have to support each other to reach the finish line. Mauji and Mamta take the story of Prem and Sandhya forward. The look of Sui Dhaaga and Dum Laga Ke Haisha also seems to be quite similar. Both the films are set in small cities. Like Prem, Mauji is also living under the shadow of his authoritarian father. In another small but wonderful touch, there are people wearing similar type of sweaters in the two films.

In Chaav Laaga, the lover compares his lover to an addiction that stings like a wound. The song begins with the lines, "Kabhi seet laaga, kabhi taap laaga, tere saath ka hai jo shaap laaga." Your presence is sometimes like a cold chill, and sometimes like a hot fever. Being in your company is a curse which he adores. Love is compared to shaap (a curse). There have been songs where love has been compared to a prayer, to a blessing, and to a habit. What is noteworthy here that lover's presence is compared to a curse which usually has negative connotations attached to it. Dum Laga Ke Haisha's popular Moh Moh Ke Dhaage had a similar romantic song as well. In that song, the lover sings, "Yeh moh moh ke dhaage, teri ungliyon se ja uljhe. Koi toh toh na laage, kis tarah girah ye suljhe." These threads of endearment have got entangled in your fingers, I seem to get no clue how to solve open this knot. The underlying philosophy of both the songs essentially talks about the attachment to the lover. While Chaav Laga calls it an addiction that stings like a wound, Moh Moh Ke Dhaage calls it the threads of attachment.

Sui Dhaaga releases in a few weeks. Let's see how the final product turns out to be—an example of exquisite embroidery, or just another mundane design.

Song Credits:

Singers: Papon, Ronkini Gupta 

Music: Anu Malik 

Lyrics: Varun Grover

Other Reading:
1. On the force of gravity in Dum Laga Ke Haisha—Link
2. On the similarities between Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan—Link

Dialogue of the Day:

"Kaafi hai tera saath re, saath re.

Tera chaav laga, jaise koi ghaav laga."

—Chaav Laaga, Sui Dhaga