Why Bangalore Days is more than a Rom-Com

It’s been more than five weeks since Bangalore Days released in theaters around India. Even then, if you don’t book your tickets for the movie at any theater well ahead, you might have to for the next available show.

What makes the movie so good?

The answer is simple. The story is normal, of course, but the movie boasts a great cast – the top young actors and actresses that are most popular among the masses today. The songs – which have been beautifully composed by Gopi Sunder (although there are allegations that he “gets inspired” from already existing songs) – are those you can listen to over and over again.

Then, the direction. Anjali Menon has previously written the script for two other movies: Manjadikkuru and Usthad Hotel. While she directed the former, the latter was directed by Anwar Rasheed.

Manjadikkuru is told from the perspective of a little child. Brought up in Dubai, he comes to Kerala for one summer for his grandfather’s funeral. And through his eyes we see mistrust, chaos, jealousy and such unfold among the members of the family. The boy’s mother, so obsessed with keeping up appearances (played well by Urvasi), chides her husband for trying to fix the car’s burst tire, saying we have a driver for such purposes. Then there is the other daughter if the grandfather who dies – played by Bindu Panicker. She is interested in gossiping with the people who come to offer condolences, and sometimes yells at the kids. Later, however, the boy witnesses her husband being rude, disrespectful and absolutely void of love towards her after which she cries to herself. He understands, sometimes it’s the people with the most anger who hide the most sadness inside.

Before I write away the whole story, what I am trying to convey is that a woman who wrote and directed Manjadikkuru – a movie with so many layers – has more to give the audience than a romantic comedy. Sure, there’s romance, and sure, it’s funny. But there is another aspect to it.

Bangalore Days follows the story of three cousins – Kuttan, who gets hired to an IT company in Bangalore, Aju, a nomad whose parents have never made him feel wanted, and Divya, a B. Commerce graduate who gets married off at the age of 20 following the warnings of an astrologer, in effect putting an end to her ambitions.

The movie follows the lives of the three of them. Kuttan as he tries to fit into Bangalore with his traditions and values, while Aju who works as a mechanic who repairs bikes tries to find a place that would finally accept him and Divya who tries to be a good wife to her husband who is distant and reserved.

I won’t give away the ending, though it is highly guessable. Like I said, there are romances, and it is comedic.

But what most people won’t realize is that it is also a satire. Now there are people who think they understand what satire is and try to bring out pieces thinking that they are gods of satire. But here, Anjali Menon has portrayed bits of Kerala in such a way that people are technically laughing at themselves.

Take for example, Kuttan’s mother played to perfection by Kalpana. In the beginning of the movie, during the wedding song, as Kuttan and Aju dance and enjoy the celebrations during Divya’s wedding, Kuttan’s mother pulls him aside and chides him for behaving without dignity despite being a software engineer. Later on in the movie, when she joins Kuttan in Bangalore following the departure of his father to unknown places (known later in the movie), she changes. She starts dressing differently, keeping her hair short, and playing card games with neighbors she cannot communicate with properly. She even does some exercise with them where she just puts her hands up in the air laughing. By the end of the movie, she is dressed in jeans and a very stylish black coat getting ready to go to America.

Then you have Divya who was married off by her parents because they didn’t want her to get into a relationship the family disagrees with on her own as the astrologer predicted. But after a while into the marriage, she comes back home and the parents realize how they shouldn’t have jumped into it. When they are discussing their daughter’s marriage fate with the lawyer (where she is not present), someone in the group advises them that it is their decision alone, i.e., the parents’. The father goes to Divya and says, we don’t want this relationship, and persuades her to sign the divorce papers. Later however, Divya comes to know another aspect about her husband which makes her go back to him – against the wishes of her parents – in effect, making what the astrologer said come true.

The arranged marriage is commonplace in Kerala, especially among Nair households. It is also commonplace that a lot of parents think they know what is best for their children, more often than not, making their decisions for them. Divya doesn’t just go back to her husband in the movie, she also picks up her education again – selling the gold she has to enroll in a business school in Bangalore. She sells her gold, to be independent. She knows she can’t ask her parents, and she won’t ask her husband because this is something she wants to do on her own.

There is Kuttan who has decided what kind of girl he wants to marry – he knows how she should look and behave. He falls for a girl whom he thinks is like that only to be given a sharp wake up call to reality. In the end, the girl he marries is not one he – or the audience – would have expected.

Aju is the boy written off as useless because he doesn’t have a proper job or a proper education by his aunts and uncles. For him, his only family is his two cousins. Aju’s story is one that shows that you don’t need to be an engineer or a doctor to find success. It is also one that shows acceptance can come from different places. 

The movie also shows the wide gap that exists between different generations of Kerala. You have the parental generation, people of whom which tries to stick strictly to customs and traditions and you have the millennial generation – who while trying to stick to customs and traditions (more out of respect for their parents than anything else) are also trying to mingle in the modern world. While most of the parental generation thinks the millennials are struggling with this, the movie shows that they don’t need to worry so much. Which is what most of us try to tell our parents as well.

And all this is why I think Bangalore Days has a lot more to offer if you watch closely.