‘Sarangapani Jathakam’ and ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’: Two Timely Tales from Tollywood and Bollywood
- Small conversations, about small diversions, such as even “rom-com” movies, can help us understand where we have come from and where we are going, a little better.
Two recent movies about love and marriage in contemporary India caught my attention for the way in which important sociological and philosophical ideas come up in their otherwise light-hearted and entertaining experience. These ideas are of course not presented in a vacuum, but in relation to something many of us have lived through, or are perhaps living through as well – questions about fate and free will, actions and consequences, fear and hope, and most importantly, the chance to say, as old Telugu movies did, “Subham,” in the end, as everyone gathers for a happy wedding photo.
“Sarangapani Jathakam”(Telugu) takes as its premise the protagonist’s obsession with “jathakam,” or astrology and related pursuits, while “Bhool Chuk Maaf” (Hindi), celebrates its setting amidst the sacred sights and shrines of Kashi. But the really fascinating coincidence in terms of the storylines, and the conflicts in them, is that they offer a wonderful example for viewers (perhaps parents and children together) to explore broader philosophical issues such as fate and free will in relation to the question of love, marriage, and family.
To begin with, both movies resolve the “love” part quite easily and early (some minor spoilers ahead, though what happens at the end is not revealed in this article). “Sarangapani” is in love with his co-worker from the car dealership they work in and is mustering up courage and proper alignment with the stars to tell her about it. But in a happy twist of fate, or star-fated power, the problem doesn’t even arise- the girl herself sits him down and tells him that she likes him! Smiles break out, families meet, and wedding plans are commenced; all in the first few minutes.
Similarly, in “Bhool Chuk Maaf,” the wedding gets set fairly quickly in the movie too, albeit with a little more adventure and misadventure. After a half-hearted attempt by the lovestruck duo to run away fails (depicted quite nicely in a lively animation title-sequence), the wedding gets somewhat conditionally agreed upon by the families since the girls’ parents’ core concern is addressed – our hero somehow lands himself the coveted “government job.”
But stars, gods, intertwined fates, ethical choices, alternate realities, abuses of trust, all sorts of things are at stake. Despite the early “settlement” of marriages, unexpected problems arise which now make us wonder how, when, and if at all, our young brides and grooms will get to live happily ever after.
In “Sarangapani Jatakam,” the twist is dark. A chance encounter with a sinister (or comically sinister) palm-reader convinces the hero that he is doomed to commit a murder – and what if, God forbid, he turns on his loved ones ? In “Bhool Chuk Maaf,” the hiccup is in the time-space fabric itself! Like the movie “Groundhog Day,” our hero finds himself repeating, again and again, the day before his marriage. Something seemingly has gone wrong in the nature of the vow (or deal) he made with the Gods in order to get his job and his girl. Without giving too much away, let us say that the trouble lies not in the stars or in the moods of the Gods, but in the realm of human choices themselves.
As surveys of youth in India and the West indicate, one growing global trend is the decline of interest in marriage as an important life-goal for the current generation of youth.
The iGen Angst
It is tempting for a student of media to read more than entertainment in what is after all mostly entertainment, but there is perhaps much that parents of children wondering about things like loneliness, friendship, trust, marriage, and life ahead, could explore in connection to these movies. While “Sarangapani Jatakam” might offer a useful example to talk about the place of older cultural traditions such as astrology in the modern world, the idea of the “government job” in “Bhool Chuk Maaf” suggests some timely sociological themes as well, such as the relationship between identity and work in modern India. And if one goes even deeper, and away from the movies into the real world, there are a number of relevant sociological trends that are worth considering. As surveys of youth in India and the West indicate, one growing global trend is the decline of interest in marriage as an important life-goal for the current generation of youth (often known as “Gen Z” or “iGen” in psychologist Jean Twenge’s phrase, people born between 1995-2010 or so).
As we enter the second quarter of our century, it would be interesting to try and imagine what the future will be like in another 25 years or so. Major themes and forces like technologies, wars, and politics aside, what might be in store for us in our lives? One way to deal with the uncertainty, fears and hopes for our future would be to simply pay attention to our own lives, particularly in relation to our specific life-stages. If you are over 50 years old, you are perhaps more worried about the next generation’s welfare in terms of studies, careers, family, and well-being than your own. If you are in your teens or twenties, you are perhaps worried about your own economic future, as well as your social, cultural, relational, emotional and spiritual needs.
Can you count on “settling down” and doing what your parents’ or grandparents’ generation did in terms of marriage and family? Times have changed, and while we try to adapt and balance work and family, past and present, continuity and change, tradition and modernity, and perhaps things even more specific like fatalism and a sense of agency, a bit of sociological reflection is always useful.
What I found fascinating in these two movies is the fact that themes of love, marriage, and family still remain abiding concerns for filmmakers and for audiences, and of course, the question of what “doing the right thing” is. In “Bhool Chukh Maaf,” the moral dilemma at the core of the hero’s time-travel problem turns out to be something very pertinent to the growing Indian trend of obsessing with work-related “social status” over other considerations such as cultural compatibility and emotional resonance in thinking about matches and marriages. For parents, the label of a “government job” is all that matters. For the hero, that job is the only thing standing between him and the love of his life. But then, there are situations, and people in those situations, for whom the job may be not just any “job.” Without spoiling the fun, all I can say is that “Bhul Chuk Maaf” handled the theme of how different generations have come to conflate identity, work, and value without sociological or moral self-reflection, in a moving and instructive manner. When you watch it, do so with your parents, or your children, as the case may be, and talk about what you see in terms of a three or four generational change in your own wider families and friends’ families. Small conversations, about small diversions, such as even “rom-com” movies, can help us understand where we have come from and where we are going, a little better.
Postscript: if you would like to get some more “meaning of life” conversations going around Tollywood, watch the Telugu film “Bro”(2023) with Pawan Kalyan; what his character says about existence and purpose to his fate-trapped mortal friend is quite profound!
Vamsee Juluri is Professor of Media Studies, University of San Francisco. He is the author of “Becoming a Global Audience: Longing and Belonging in Indian Music Television” (Peter Lang, 2003), “The Mythologist: A Novel” (Penguin India, 2010), and “Bollywood Nation: India through its Cinema (Penguin India,” 2013), “Rearming Hinduism: Nature, Hinduphobia and the Return of Indian Intelligence “ (BluOne Ink, 2024) and “The Guru Within” (in progress).