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The blurred boundaries of friend and lover zones

Ae Dil Ki Mushkil (Hindi, 2016)

Gone are the days when the sanctity of conjugal union and the adage of one man to one woman is guarded until the end of time till death do them apart. Poetic justice would be the order of the day as if one person was born for the other. Love triangles would invariably end up with either one sacrificing his/her love or his demise. The sanctity of marriage or love was kept 'pure'. Coming together of man and woman (only man and woman) is for ever, and there is no such thing as changing partners. People do not break relationships because it does not fulfil their inner desires or because it is meaningless. They make do with what they have and find happiness even the most hopeless of circumstances. When offspring come into the picture, the purpose seems more clear cut.

That is in the perfect world of Tinseltown. The celluloid industry used to set the standards of how live should be lived and stuck set in its agenda of praising the age old Indian idea of monoamory and loyalty. The World has changed and ancient ideas have become passe. Hence, Bollywood too has to metamorphose.

The gender role too has changed over the years. From a docile, submissive and non-confrontational stance who would exert their influences from the sidelines in the yesteryears, women have evolved to statures of wielding power, self-reliance and self-sustenance. In the matters of the heart too, they now hold the rein of what they feel and what they desire. They are no more the ones who needs mollycoddling but instead take the upper hand of things. Wearing the pants is no more the masculine domain. Conversely, generations of shielding by their mothers of their prized jewel crowns by their mothers have turned into fragile wimps who need emotional lullaby and potty training. 

This film courted meaningless controversy when the casting directors decided to employ an actor from their neighbouring country's not-so-glamorous movie industry. It snowballed to become yet another divide in the country into a dichotomy who claim nationalistic spirits through division and the other via inclusion. In the end, the tiff just helps to give free publicity. The movie makers smile all the way to the bank whilst it means little to the little men on the streets. 

The movie tells the tale of a wealthy kid's supposedly doing MBA in London and goes around in search of love in the wrong people. The person with whom he falls flat for, only look at him from a platonic angle. The melodrama which follows deals tries to convince its audiences that people of different sexes can do everything under the stars including sharing the same bed at night and call the relationship 'just friends yaar!'

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