Satyaprem ki Katha

Saw rave reviews on the movie on social media.

“The movie is a must watch.”
“How consent is important. Always.”
Or even “how both the characters simply nailed their performances.”

With so much love on such a different kind of much-needed love story for Bollywood, Ma and I went to watch the movie.

Here’s my honest review:
I should go back to NOT watching movies again 🙂

The good parts of the movie were:

• The hero helping the heroine fight for what is right (complain against the rapist). The dialogues “I could take the blade to cut my hand but I could not pick up a pen to sign the FIR papers” OR “The fact
• The hero being in true love with her when she could not engage physically, and thus, not going against her consent
• To speak the truth because “what is wrong in speaking the truth”?
• Women need to feel safe, beyond anything else. Which is why, Katha was happy with her husband not driving the car given in dowry and travelling on a scooter, because she felt safe around him.
• We all are there for each other. Sattu’s father helped him reach out to Katha, Katha motivated her husband (and trusted her) to stand on his own feet, Sattu not only made Katha feel safe rather also made sure he decorated the rapist with 10,000 slaps of chappal, Sattu’s Mom stopped his father from going to Katha’s parents for hiding the truth about her rape – because it could happen to anyone, Sattu did not reduce his volume when saying the word rape because it was not his or Katha’s mistake that she was raped, and they could speak the word openly, and at the end, how Sattu told Katha that she has to be the hero of her own life, while her husband would continue to be her supporting hero.
• The best part of the movie, according to me, was when Sattu reflected at the end – that even he went ahead and married Katha when she was not ready for it, so him and Tapan weren’t any different. That level of self-reflection, education does not buy it.

At some point, the truth needed to be out and called out for, that the rapists need to be called out, and no consent means no consent, irrespective of the relationship between the girl and the guy.

The movie fails at some tiny points such as:

• Why is the guy’s father not making money or even not attempting to make money? May be it is a non patriarchal household (which is visible) but someone like me who understands storytelling so well, would have needed a concrete reason.
• Sattu’s role was bit more extended in some parts
• The sadness of Sattu (which is visible to his parents as well) on his physical needs not being met, because he wanted to respect Katha’s consent, which she said might never come.

It was this last point, that made me think that at the end of the day, all pains and problems in life are because of sex.

Try living a celibate life. Try remembering you are a soul. Try remembering that the body is basically a bundle of flesh and bones, it is the soul that is connected to other human beings.

You may then have questions such as:

• Would the world not come to an end if no one reproduced?
• Having physical intimacy is the need of every human being
• Isn’t it weird to restrain yourself?

Here’s the truth my friend:

1. Being pure is not for everyone. However, for people like me who never looked forward to sex (and trust me, there are people like these) or for people who have been through it and know that at the end of the day truest happiness certainly does not lie in physicality, being aware of the strongest path is important.
2. You cannot do it alone in the middle of the world where everything literally revolves around sex. You need to connect with God and experience His powers to see how powerful you are.
3. And you need to remember that every day, and the entire day – which is what our early morning meditation and spiritual class does. Spirituality and celibacy isn’t something to be practiced in your old age away in a jungle. It is rather like a lotus that needs to blossom within the confines of the dirty world we live in, so that our presence ultimately makes everyone feel that purity. We feel that when we go to temples, ashram, or surrounded by people who stay there. Why not we be that person?

That said, the three takeaways of today:

1. Avoid movies baby. Practise studying from the masters. Truth be told, a student of life always finds entertainment in education.
2. When you are right, you do not need to cut your hand with blade or feel guilty of someone else’s misdoings. You are right, and you do not need to lose your confidence ever, because someone else’s did not respect your right.
3. Behen, have your lunch and nap on time 🙂

On that note, I truly hope you remember that you are the hero of your own life, and you need NOT fear anyone if you are right. The ones who do wrong are having fun while you are living like a victim despite not having an inch of contribution to it.

Stop treating yourself like a victim when you are the hero. A superhero.