Does a girl have agency in love? (#TJMM)

Sugar-coated Misogyny,  Anyone?

Here\’s a snapshot of the latest Bollywood romcom – Tu Jhoothi, Main Makkar.

Handsome, rich, pampered boy – running a breakup business on the sly, meets pretty young thing, who is obviously a boozing, philandering, commitment-phobic, ambitious, career-minded creature, who doesn\’t believe in \”saving herself for the right man\”. Stereotyping, anyone?

Cut to his large extended family that literally suffocates her with truckloads of love and too much attention.

She wants space. He can\’t live without his brood.

They break up. End of story? Not if it\’s a Luv Ranjan film. He of misogynistic potboilers like Pyaar ka Punchnaama and Sony ke Titu ki Tweety (hope I got that right).

But let\’s come back to this film, that\’s being touted as his most liberal minded(!)

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The femme fatale still has feelings for her ditched lover, and wants him to stop her from going abroad to chase her career dreams. They talk things out, with buckets of tears and accusations.

And no prizes for guessing how things pan out. She agrees to marry the family, the entire lot.

They love her to death, prepare her tiffin-box, send her off to work, spoil her when she\’s pregnant. Everyone happy.

Happy ending? Not for me.

What about the girl\’s wish to have her own home? Her space, her life? Her in-laws love her (we are reminded repeatedly), but what if she wants breathing space, a place to spread her wings away from the family? What if she doesn\’t want kids, or a conventional married life?

In the end, it is a compromise that she makes, for the sake of her \”true love\”. The man gets away with a little heartbreak, and some admonishing from his brood. Win-win for the hero!

Things never change, do they?

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