Manmarziyaan—Let Your Soul Fly

One of my favorite scenes from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is the one where Chutki (Pooja Ruparel) catches Simran (Kajol) and Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) secretly meeting at the terrace. She advises Simran not to marry Kuljeet (Parmeet Sethi) because she does not like him. Instead, she says that she likes this Chhat Vala guy. Mujhe naa yeh chhat vala bahut pasand hai. I really like this terrace-hopping guy. I could not help but get reminded of this scene again while watching Anurag Kashyap's Manmarziyaan, which also opens with Vicky (Vicky Kaushal) hopping the roofs to meet his girlfriend Rumi (Taapsee Pannu) at her place. He always comes to her room via the terrace and never uses the front door. While Raj had a reason to come from the roofs as he and Simran were secretly planning something, there is nothing that really stops Vicky from having his affair openly except his own lack of commitment. Writer Kanika Dhillon explores first love, commitment, arranged marriage, and modern-day romance for the millennial generation in Manmarziyaan. As they say in Grey Waala Shade, "Zamaanaa hai badla, mohabbat bhi badli, ghise pitey version nu, maaro update." The world has changed, and so has love. Now update the old versions.

The film is the story of Rumi, a hockey player, living with her family in Amritsar. She is having an affair with Vicky, a part-time disc jockey (DJ) who wants to be Honey Singh. Vicky is the typical commitment-phobic guy. Tu banda na bada sahi, lekin zimmedari ke naam pe hag deta hai. You are a great guy, but you shit in the name of responsibility. There is no parental opposition that stops them from getting together; however, Vicky is not ready to get married. He does not even want to get engaged. He wants to enjoy the fun without taking any responsibility. He is the kind of person who forgets his wallet when running away from home. Frustrated with Vicky's attitude, Rumi agrees to an arranged marriage with Robbie (Abhishek Bachchan), a banker working in London. Robbie knows about Rumi's relationship with Vicky, yet he agrees to marry her. After some more broken promises from Vicky, Rumi, and Robbie are eventually married. The film shows us the chaotic struggles of the three to make sense of their messy love lives. 

One of the best things about the film is Taapsee Pannu's stupendous performance as Rumi. She owns this character completely, even if we have seen shades of this character before. If there is one word that describes Rumi, it is unapologetic. She is not afraid of anything in life. Sharam ke chakkar me zindagi kharab kar loon kya? Should I spoil my life because of shame? She answers back to people without any hesitation. She believes she is always right. She drinks and smokes. She drives a bike. She colors her hair. She has passionate sex and wishes for multiple orgasms. She has undergone an abortion. She is called Laal Pari, daayan, even an atom bomb. She has no regrets in life. Named Rumpreet (as mentioned in the annulment papers) but called Rumi, after the Sufi poet, she truly follows the wishes of her heart—manmarziyaan. Perhaps that is why she can be seen running all through the film in her sneakers. She does whatever her wandering soul tells her to do. A poster in her room reads, "Be your own hero." Another one says, "This girl can." She really can.

Manmarziyaan emphasizes contrasts between the two men in Rumi's life. Vicky or Robbie. Boyfriend material or husband material. Intense first love or calm maturing-with-time love. Love marriage or arranged marriage. Blue-colored hair or turban-covered hair. In addition, the motif of the twins in the film represents some kind of duality. Two twin girls (played by Poonam and Priyanka Shah) keep appearing near Rumi at different stages in the film. They symbolize the conflict in Rumi's mind. In Kashmir, two twin boys are again seen near Rumi, where they are drinking kawa. This sense of duality is also seen in other little things in the film. The characters talk about Pyaar (love) and Fyaar (lust). Only a letter differentiates the two. An advertisement on the radio talks about a website called Shaadi Waadi. Later, Rumi explains the difference between Y and J (Yonex and Jonex) to a customer in her shop. The film's title also displays this duality where it can be seen that it is written in two colors. A passionate pink gives in to a more sedate yellow, mirroring the events of Rumi's life.

Vicky is not a bad person at all. He really loves Rumi. After her wedding, he wants her to move on but does not want her to hate him. When Rumi tears him apart or slaps him in many places, I assume he will hit back and react violently. But he never does that. He knows Rumi is telling the truth but does not want to hear it. His indecisiveness might be a flaw, but it is not toxic. In the last few years, cinema has focused on the characters' internal conflicts. Vicky is suffering from the same syndrome. As his father explains, he just moved on from one thing to another all his life. From the toys he wanted in his childhood to the different careers he switched in adulthood, he has followed his manmarziyaan. His father adds, "Uski shaadi kahin aur pakki ho gayi hai, eda mann pakka nahi hoya abhi tak." There, her wedding is fixed, and here, his mind is not fixed yet. Vicky Kaushal is superb in portraying the angst of his namesake.

For me, Robbie was perhaps the most fascinating character in the film. The role suits Abhishek Bachchan perfectly, and he has played him with utmost restraint and dignity. When his mother asks him to select Lovely instead of Rumi, he says that he agreed to arrange marriage, but that does not mean he will kill his soul. Iska matlab yeh toh nahi hua ki apni aatma maar deni hai maine. Unlike the self-sacrificing Ram Ji type of characters that we have seen before, there is something mystical about Robbie. He is not that innocent and is far from perfect. It is later we learn that he had his own chequered past where he, too, made mistakes. He had also hopped roofs (like Vicky) at some point in his life. In another film, Robbie would have easily let go of Rumi but here, he takes the film into interesting territory when he starts his own mind games. At some stage, Rumi goes to his place and informs him that she is eloping. During that particular scene, Robbie takes out his turban, smokes a cigarette, and calls Kaka Ji, who asks him to manipulate Vicky's parents. It is here that the dark element in Robbie fully comes out. He will not let go off Rumi without a fight. After the wedding, he plays cool and does not ask any questions to her. He gives her a choice to leave the marriage, but there is a feeling that he is onto something. He is hurt when he learns that Rumi thinks of Vicky when she sleeps with him. Rumi had never mentioned it explicitly, but only days before, she asked him to either switch off the lights or close his eyes, which made Robbie assume this was the truth. This makes him realize that he cannot accept this, and he decides to walk away from his marriage.

In Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, which has my favorite performance of Abhishek Bachchan, Rishi is raging with fire when he finds out about the affair between Maya (Rani Mukerji) and Dev (Shah Rukh Khan). He questions Maya if she slept with Dev. Rishi is unable to accept that his wife is sleeping with another man. In almost a parallel contrast in Manmarziyaan, Robbie is in a state of complete chaos when he believes that Rumi thinks about Vicky when they have sex. Unlike Rishi, Robbie is not as disturbed by the relationship (even physical) between Rumi and Vicky as much as he is by the thought of Rumi thinking about Vicky. While Rishi reacted violently, Robbie displays controlled anger. He thought he would be fine, but things did not work out the way he had hoped, and lands in his own emotional mess. His internal turmoil can be clearly seen in the song Hallaa. "Mann wich halla halla halla hai, pyaar tu kalla kalla kalla hai." There’s a turmoil inside my head. Love, You are a lonesome being. What is noteworthy about this particular sequence in the film is that here for the first time we see Robbie around the twins instead of Rumi, symbolizing the chaos in his mind. The twin girls are almost always in perfect sync when they are near Rumi, but with Robbie, one of the girls is hidden behind the other and tilts her head the way Robbie does in that scene. I felt as if the film was making some comment here which I am still trying to grasp.

 

Comparisons of the film with Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam will be inevitable as essentially Manmarziyaan has the same premise as that of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film—a woman lets go of her first love and ends up with her husband. Besides that, there are quite a few other similarities and contrasts that provide a lens to view the two films. In Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Sameer (Salman Khan) is an aspiring musician; in Manmarziyaan, Vicky is a part-time DJ and an aspiring Honey Singh. In the former, when Sameer is asked to leave the house, Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) runs after him but a game of statue makes her freeze after which he walks away. In the latter, when Rumi is getting married, Vicky comes to her house and remains standing all day like a statue as Rumi's uncle says but Rumi asks him to go. I felt that the way both these scenes have been shot is quite similar. In Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Nandini almost died when she tried to run after Sameer in Italy but Vanraj (Ajay Devgn) stops (and saves) her. She is angry at Vanraj for doing that and questions him as to why is he helping her and trying to be god. Kyun bhagwaan banne ki koshish kar rahe hain aap? In a similar vein in Manmarziyaan, Rumi questions Robbie's attitude when he asks her to take her time to be in their marriage. She replies, "Sabko devta banna hai yahan pe." Everyone is trying to be a saint here. In the end, we see it is Nandini who runs to Vanraj where she tells him that she wants to be with him; something similar happens in the other film, where it is Rumi who runs towards Robbie after sending him a friend request. We can also study the contrasts between the two films. First is the way the two films treat sex. In Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Nandini's naïvete in the matters of physical intimacy is visible when she thinks that she can get pregnant by a mere kiss; on the other hand, in Manmarziyaan, there is Rumi who is unapologetic about sex and has even undergone an abortion all by herself. In the former, Vanraj and Nandini do not have sex with each other after their wedding as in the words of Vanraj, "Shaadi sirf jism ka rishta nahi, man ka milan hai, aatma ka rishta hai," while in the latter, Robbie and Rumi have no hesitation in having sex even if Rumi is in love with the other person. She continues to have sex with Vicky as well after her wedding. Manmarziyaan's attitude towards sex is not virtuous at all. Additionally, Robbie and Vanraj can appear to be similar; however, Robbie is not really the self-sacrificing type like Vanraj. And, in what can be called a cosmic connection between the two films, Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan fell in love while making Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam as if they were mirroring the story of Nandini and Sameer. Years later, Abhishek Bachchan, the real-life husband of Aishwarya Rai, plays the role of the husband in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam's retelling in the age of Tinder and Facebook. If Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was made today, Nandini could have easily found Sameer on Facebook. Vanraj could have easily tracked Sameer by his shows on YouTube. Really, so many films will make no sense if they were remade today.

Ever since I have watched the film, there have been some scenes and characters that keep coming back to me. After his separation, Robbie meets Lovely (Sukhmani Sadana), the dentist, at a restaurant. With tears in his eyes, he is talking to her about Rumi all the time. He tells her if there is something she wants to ask him. She has only one question—"Mera naam kya hai?" What is my name? Robbie is stunned and is unable to answer. She further adds that there is no need to hurry. He should take his time. These are the exact same words that Robbie had told Rumi when he gave her a choice to stay in the marriage. Koi jaldi nahi hai. Take your time. There was something extremely graceful about Lovely and the way she peeped inside Robbie's soul in minutes. Maybe she would have been the Robbie to Robbie if their match had been finalized. This one line of hers made me respect her. In the same vein, I found Robbie's father to be endearing. He does not speak much but he understood people so well. His conversations with Robbie while having a drink are heartfelt. I smiled when he sees Rumi and Robbie drunk and says to his wife, "Bachche comfortable ho rahe hain." Even the characters of Kaka Ji who runs an arranged-marriage bureau but his own wife wants a divorce and Rumi's Aunt who knows how to steer a conversation (just watch the scene where she quickly saves herself when she what does she know about 7-11s) are wonderful. 

One thing that kept popping up in the film was the animal-related references. Vicky was called a neela kukkad (rooster) by Rumi's aunt as never comes home like normal human beings. He is also called a shuturmurg (an ostrich) by his father. Rumi calls herself a dragon who spits fire when she is angry. She is also the sherni—the lioness—as mentioned in the song Sherni. She roars like a lioness and has a foxy mind. At some other point, Rumi and Robbie are talking about a gadha (donkey) and a bakra (goat). Post the wedding, Rumi is watching a Nature-type show on television where they are talking about the mating of lions, mirroring the actions of Robbie. At a later stage, Rumi is again watching a similar show but this time, it is about the mating of simians. In addition to these, there are gorgeous shots of food in the film. Samosas, jalebis, laddoos, lassi, and pakore, even ghiya—the food here looks more delicious than the way it was shown in recent food films, such as Chef and Mitron.

There is also a very visible touch of DevD, Anurag Kashyap's other love story, in Manmarziyaan. The twins in Manmarziyaan are reminiscent of the Twilight Dancers in DevD. At another point, Vicky and Rumi come out from the fields of Punjab after engaging in some sexual activity, something Paro and Dev did in DevD as well. Remember Paro took a mattress on a cycle to the fields. The cinematography at places, such as the one where Rumi and Vicky are on a bike, where the camera appears to move faster is like Dev's movement in DevD, too. There is the commonality of Amit Trivedi's music between the films and some similar colorful shots as well. 

One criticism of the film is the length of its second half. There is a drop in its pace and it goes into a mode where nothing exciting is happening for some stretches. If it was about twenty minutes shorter, the film would have been much better. Also, in the second half, the music tries to do the job of the characters. And, I had to rely on the subtitles (excellently done) to fully understand the lyrics of some Punjabi songs. Amit Trivedi's music by itself is just splendid, definitely among of the best this year. I don't know which one is my favorite song. I loved Darya, Grey Wala Shade, and Hallaa. There is also a beautiful line in Chonch Ladhiyaan that says, "Jis wal vekhan kalandar naache, bande andar Paigambar naache." The moment I saw a Qalandar dancing, it felt like God is dancing inside a man. Shellee's lyrics deserve a detailed analysis of its own.

The film's two best sequences come at the end of the first and the second half. In the first one, Rumi is waiting for Vicky so that they can run away again. Vicky is in his car behind her, thinking if he should go ahead. He cannot take a decision again. For a minute, when he flashes the headlights, I thought Rumi would turn back, instead, he turns back his car with tears rolling down his eyes. And, Rumi speaks words from Main Tenu Phir Milangi, a poem written by Punjabi writer Amrita Pritam (to whom the film is also dedicated). The background music makes the scene even more beautiful. At the end of the second half, Rumi and Robbie walk together where she starts telling him the answers to the questions that he had asked her earlier. She opens up about herself. She likes to eat Gol Gappe when she is angry. She admits to manipulating her family members using the death of her parents. Robbie talks about his past life before he became Ram Ji. They also talk about the thinking behind their actions in the last few weeks of their lives. The sequence is beautifully done, almost feels like Céline and Jesse walking and talking in Before Sunrise.

At one stage, Vicky's father chides Vicky for his plans to elope with Rumi. He says that he was living fine absolutely fine till now; but when Rumi is getting married, he is saying he cannot live without her. Manmarziyaan explores this idea that not getting together with your first love is not really the end of the world. Life moves on and love can be found again. Like when Robbie asks Rumi if she loves him. She says, "Ho jayega pyaar." It will happen slowly. Wish there was an app for that, too. 

Trivia:

1. At one point, Robbie says that the name of the first girl he kissed was Kanika, which is also the name of the film's writer, Kanika Dhillon.
2. In the scene when they are drunk, Rumi and Robbie talk about Sholay, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and Baazigar. At another point, the film Queen is also mentioned. 

3. Sukhbir's Ishq Tera Tadpave on Rumi's cellphone; Itna Karona Mujse Pyar on Vicky's cellphone.

4. Vicky wears shirts of Jim Morrison and Frankenstein

5. Led Zepplin in Robbie's room

6. This joke that we have seen in some forwarded messages.

7. Text message

8. This subtitle

9. Let your soul fly

10. I was trying to validate if Indian laws allow for annulment if a marriage is not registered. I could not get confirmation, but it is mentioned that even if a marriage is not legally registered and if the ceremony has taken place, the marriage is considered legally valid. There are only a few grounds for which an annulment can be sought. In that case, Rumi and Robbie would have to undergo a full divorce, given that their marriage was also consummated. 

11. Not related to the movie but a few days ago, this beautiful tweet was trending on Twitter. This is so moving. 

Amrita Pritam in a candid interview tells about how a Pakistani fruit seller paid his gratitude to her for her iconic poem 'Aj Akhan Waris Shah Nu'. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/edaKlx3aIs

— Rupinder Kaur (@RupinderKW) November 11, 2018

The Cutting Scissors:

Dialogue of the Day:

"Main tenu phir milangi, 

 Shayad ek khayal banke,

Tere mann mein jotrangi,

Ya tere mathe di lakeer banke,

Khamosh tenu takhti rawangi,

Main tenu phir milangi,

Kithe, kis tarah, pata nahi,

Main tenu phir milangi."

—Amrita Pritam (spoken by Rumi in Manmazriyaan)