Mrunal Thakur and Huma Qureshi starrer legal-drama Pooja Meri Jaan--centered around a girl who gets entangled in an abetment case after her jilted lover commits suicide—drops amid powerful context. In the aftermath of the gangrape of a minor girl in a park in Delhi, central universities are erupting in protests. Women are out with placards, bearing catchy, diss couplets. How to really trust men when your feed is filled with videos of one of them forcefully picking a girl up with his hand between her thighs. The movie also comes post the Atul Subhash suicide case—about a techie who killed himself over allegations of mental harassment by his estranged wife and in-laws—and multiple incidents of women murdering their husbands and going-to-be husbands.
Director: Navjot Gulati and Vipasha Arvind
Writers: Kanishka Singh Deo and Navjot
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Huma Qureshi, Vijay Raaz and Vikram Singh Chauhan
Streamer: ZEE5
The discourse around gender dynamics has become acutely divided. Like any other dominant group, men and those supporting them, are also quick to label themselves as victims, oblivious to the privileges they enjoy. It all stems from entitlement. The Raja beta whose only female interaction has been with his mother or sister—women who have been conditioned by patriarchy to assent to all his whims and fancies—has never been prepped to handle rejection.
Aniket (Vikram Singh Chauhan) is one such entitled man. He pops the question in front of a packed audience to Pooja (Mrunal Thakur). She covers her face, runs away but it’s assumed that she had said yes. Later, Pooja rudely rejects Aniket, throws his flowers on his face and storms off. Unable to handle the pain, Aniket hangs himself, and Pooja is put on trial for abetment of suicide.
The film smartly puts you in a conundrum in the beginning. Aniket isn’t an obvious creep. He is just too persistent, too cheesy. Somebody who probably has Shah Rukh Khan films for breakfast. “I’ll wait for you,” he tells Pooja when she refuses to be in a relationship with him. His idea of love comes from Bollywood. Pooja, on the other hand, is free-spirited and independent and has had multiple relationships in the past. The kind of girl society looks down upon and would love to tame. How could Pooja not love Aniket? Who was so perfect, so smitten by her? What did he do to deserve the fate that befell him?
It is rewarding to watch a film which questions your notions, makes you introspect on your beliefs. Aren’t we, as a society, a bit quicker to judge women for their mannerisms? Why should death make saints out of people? Why do men treat attraction as arithmetic and then feel betrayed when it doesn’t sum up? Pooja Meri Jaan is thought-provoking, walking on a tightrope between sensitive ideas and strong opinions. Was Pooja right in giving in to Aniket’s persistence and agreeing to date him? Can she not enjoy the freedom to change her mind more than once? A section of the audience might feel alienated by the stance the film takes but it’s important to soak in that discomfort, to not be agitated and understand.
The issue is also that the film is unable to go deeper than its themes. As most Indian courtroom dramas tend to be, this too becomes didactic and preachy, focusing more on driving home its message than letting the audience decide for themselves. It’s straightforwardly directed and can come across as plain and predictable at times. I found myself engaged more with its ideas than its narrative. There is less plot and more themes. But, still, the film got me thinking, which in itself is a commendable feat.
