Comic Relief

We can laugh all we want in the classroom setting but truth is that there are very few moments of happiness or light mood in the film that we have seen it so far. The film overall seems thematically very serious as it questions the fate of Muslims in India, their chances of livelihood, jobs and even marriage. But amidst this serious mood, the occasional light moments are rather fun to watch. Though Dadi is confined to the domestic household, the viewer immediately looks forward to her taunts or repartee. Whether she is just sitting in a corner giving instructions or making comments like “Joru ka ghulam” the viewer enjoys her performance most on screen. Even though her exhausted voice would make her seem week and docile, this matriarch draws attention because she puts everyone in their place and speaks her mind well.

The little boy, Munna is another reminder of innocence and petty expectations that children have even during grave times. He doesn’t care about partition or the radical changes that would happen but is only concerned about his passion: kite flying. His threats made to Kazim Mirza of telling his grandfather about Kazim’s stolen moment with Amina make the big adult crumble to the desires of a little boy. One laughs at the audacity of the young lad and here I must say that casting is excellent as the chap delivers his minor role effectively.

Then, the romantic scenes between Amina and Shamshad are indeed used to present the evolution of Amina as she moves from a point of rejection to rational choices. But some of their earlier scenes are rather enjoyable; Shamshad is the hopeless romantic who tries to woo Amina with poetry while she laughs at his attempts saying that he was probably born on 1^st April. Even later, Amina may come off as cold but Shamshad’s poetry and flirting continues and a romantic twist in which the lover becomes the “doosra kabootar” is all one needs to crack the audience.

And lastly, one must just notice the way Phuppa Jee laughs; one could just laugh with him regardless of reason or conversation. He would laugh when he is plotting, laugh when he is taunting and laugh even when the other person is in complete misery. Obviously, he does not come across as a character worth liking but the way he speaks just stirs the viewers as there is always cheerfulness in his voice. In other words, one could always call him a “meethi churri”.

These various cases divert our in some way linked to the glum story of Muslims in India or hint at the pathetic situation of Saleem Mirza’s family but they the audience survive a 2 hour movie with some laughter and smiles. This is clearly evident through....well through what has happened in A1 in the last two hysterical sessions.