Trailer for Taapsee Pannu's 'Thappad' is a slap on the face of patriarchy

This one is bound to make you want to see it in the cinemas

KARACHI:
The trailer for an upcoming film Thappad has recently surfaced on social media with users lauding its approach towards shutting down domestic abuse, along with those who take it lightly.

The film starring Taapsee Pannu in the lead, seems like everything the world needs to see right now. The best part about it seems to be how it doesn't take eons of violence for the leading lady to realise her rights, but a single slap.

Thappad is directed By Anubhav Sushila Sinha and produced by Bhushan Sudesh Kumar , Krishan Krishna Kumar and Sinha. It is the story of the marriage of Amrita (Pannu), whose seemingly perfect life is shattered with a slap. The film's description questions if "one slap is enough to question what a relationship stands for? Should a slap shake up her trust or 'is a Thappad 'Bas Itni Si Baat' (is a slap just a small thing?)"

The film does not seem to focus on revival, rebirth or a sudden realisation, in fact, it revolves around the 'audacity' to demand for one's rights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBw_Eta0HDM

The trailer starts off with a woman quoting section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, calling for a 'restitution of conjugal rights'. "This is a legal notice," she tells Amrita, "to take you back home."

"I don't want to go home," she replies in a state of shock. After this she is made subject to surplus questions since apparently, a single slap just isn't reason enough, not even in India.


"Was there a serious problem?" she asks, to which Amrita denies. "Was he having an affair?" she asks again, but Amrita still refuses. "Were you having an affair?" she persists, but Amrita denies once again. "So just one slap then?" she asks in disbelief. To this the Amrita finally chimes in the iconic, "Just a slap but, nahi marsakta (he can't hit me)".

The trailer goes on to show a flashback of the now separated couple's happy marriage. It relives how the duo would constantly admire each other, while creating special empathy towards Amrita by showing her living for him only, until the slap happens.

The starlet even points that out after she is asked to move on from the moment of violence, "you were so emotionally invested in your company that you could not move on, and here I've invested my entire life with you and you want me to let go of this slap?"

The husband, along with his apologies, also adds how "these things happen and people let them go." The filmmaker's attempt to narrow down exactly how men console victims of domestic abuse, especially after abusing their wives themselves, is commendable.

The trailer then brings the 'log kya kahengay' factor by adding the comments of the protagonist's mother and other people: "Tou yehi sunna reh gaya tha? Beti divorce karegi? (So this is what we had to hear? our daughter will get a divorce?", "Jaanay de beta, thoda bardasht karna seekhna chahiye aurton ko (Let it go child, women should learn to tolerate a little."

Followed by the, "Har rishta flawed hota hai, uska jorke rakhna parhta hai, (Every relationship is flawed, we need to keep it together)" to which Amrita replies, "Jor ke rakhna pare to matlab toot gaya haina (If you need to keep it together, that means it's broken)."

Nevertheless, the film is set to release on February 28, 2020 globally and we wish it was coming to Pakistan as well.

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