Families Under Stress

The troubled family storyline has travelled a long way in Hindi films from the 60s melodramas to the contemporary mix of irony and irreverent love. Seema Pahwa’s Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi, which releases this month, is the latest that confronts this enduring theme

- Maithili Rao

It’s a tried and tested trope: bring the family together for an event (both death and weddings will do) for an extended period of time and put it under stress. Simmering resentments and suppressed differences will keep the drama nicely on the boil till the lid is blown off. Catharsis (full-blown outbursts or more restrained airing of repressed feelings, depending on the filmmaker) is followed by reconciliation of sorts. People could end up being wiser for the experience. This is the basic structure of the sturdy family drama that survives all the vicissitudes of scattered members gathered under the ancestral roof, finding an opportunity to vent frustrations. Both in Hollywood and in India, it is a fail-safe mantra that a good ensemble cast and sharp, insightful writing plus a director with an eye for quirks of character can turn into a memorable film.

Last month Seema Pahwa, the veteran television, theatre, and film actor made her directorial debut with Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi boasting an enviably stellar cast at the MAMI film festival. Pahwa has made the screen mother her own in films as different as Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Bareilly Ki Barfi, and Aankhon Dekhi. She gives her characters a highly vivid recall value, and just one scene is enough to stamp it as her own. Pahwa is part of the group of talented actors that give nuance, humor, and individuality so essential to add muscle and movement to storytelling. This recent trend of making the supporting cast integral to the narrative, often more interesting than the romantic lead, is most welcome.