CINEMASCOPE: WHEN YOU GOTTA GO...
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, an unusual title for a love story, is a cautionary tale of fighting for life’s basic necessities. In the film, love hinges on finding an easily accessible place to defecate — preferably within a mile from one’s home.
Don’t laugh. This is still a big problem in India where some religious sub-classes — and a lot of primitive thinking — forbid people from relieving themselves within town limits. To poop, one has to walk to the outskirts, preferably out of sight of peeping toms. After a few years of doing this, peeping toms aren’t as big an issue as the long trek, especially when one is desperate.
This notion makes us sympathise with Jaya (an excellent Bhumi Pednekar), a recently married woman who is woken up at the crack of dawn after her wedding night by female neighbours. This group is a “Lota Party” and every town or village has them — women banding together before sunlight so they can walk out of the village to relieve themselves before the world wakes up!
Jaya, an educated and forward-thinking woman, is left aghast and embarrassed. How is she able to huddle with strangers in some remote field? And what if she wants to go in the middle of the day? (She is told to “hold it in”).
Toilet Ek Prem Katha and Bareilly Ki Barfi are well-conceived must-see films
Jaya’s husband Keshav (Akshay Kumar) has a bunch of solutions from stealing portable toilets to syncing with a train’s stop-over time at their station so that she can use the compartment’s lavatory.
Each juggad (make-do arrangement) is just that — temporary and ineffective. At one point, Jaya finds herself locked in a train’s toilet. To her, this is the last straw. One can’t help but cheer for the girl at this point. At least back in her parent’s home she can go in peace and at will.
This is when Keshav decides to undertake a task more difficult than moving heaven and earth: getting the government to take action. Media outlets spring into action at the sansani (sensational news) — a woman leaves her home because the locals (including Keshav’s father played by actor Sudhir Pandey) with their archaic thinking won’t let Jaya’s husband make a toilet within village limits.
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is a smartly-written public service message from writers Siddharth Singh and Garima Wahal (screenwriters of Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela). Keshav and Jaya’s plight is inspired by a real-life incident which coincides with the Indian government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (Clean India Mission) — a project to end open defecation — and a resulting three billion rupees scam. For once though, the film openly blames public mindset for their predicament.
The love story is fleshed out with several other real-world problems in India. For example, Keshav has to marry a cow because he was not born with the right kismet; Jaya has to have two thumbs so that her kundli becomes compatible with Keshav. Director Shree Narayan Singh (editor of Special 26, Rustom and Baby) keeps the lead pair’s romantic connection resilient and persuasive within far grander circumstances, especially when these messages overpower the actors.
Toilet’s first half is typically Bollywood, establishing Keshav’s persona with kinks one expects from an A-list star such as Akshay. It’s a good decision because Toilet wouldn’t have worked if the screenplay didn’t resort to conventional, mainstream aspects spearheading the plot.
Toilet’s post-intermission run is mostly a long, engaging campaign about getting public toilets made in India. Even the superb soundtrack (lyrics by Siddharth-Garima, music by Vickey Prasad) plays up the film’s theme. The novelty of this very real problem makes Toilet: Ek Prem Katha a captivating romantic-drama, especially when one sees Jaya and Kashav search frantically for a lavatory. I’m sure everyone can relate to the dilemma. We’ve all felt that desperation.
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