(Beyond smoke screen)
Sex Among Elderly Couples not a Stigma
The latest movie Badhaai ho
seeks to expose the pseudo morality of middle class, scared of sex talks beyond
bed room
By Mukesh Sharma
The story starts with a typical
middle class family with an elderly couple blessed with two grown-up sons – one
working with an MNC and the other still a school goer making preparation to
take board exams, and a rough spoken grandmother, and as usual ever poking and
peeping neighbors of a government colony. Head of the family, the father is a
government employee working with Railways as TT, and he faithfully looks after
his wife and family.
The little and limited world of
two youngman in the family turns upside down when they learn from their
hesitant father about the pregnancy of their mother. The startling revelation
comes as a bolt from blue. At the age of becoming a mother-in-law and a
respected granny, the mother of grown up sons of the family is herself in a family
way. Unable to cope with the crisis of clashing generations, the grown up sons
throw tantrums. The scene evokes laughters when the duo look at their parents as
if they have committed some ‘heinous‘crime. The titillating and troublesome
‘news’ spreads like wildfire in neighborhood and among relatives. It becomes a
talk of town in the small word of the family and around.
When the eldest son reveals this
fact to his girl friend, she too bursts into laughters. And in turn, when she confides
it to her mother, she expresses her dismay and disbelief. Quick to imagine, she
says a baby at the age of retirement would become a liability on the eldest son
of the family. However, the boy friend of the girl happens to overhear the
daughter-mother private conversation. He reacts in strong words. As a result,
the love birds fall out. They don’t remain on speaking terms for some days.
Here the story takes the turn.
The grown up sons of the family realize their mistakes, and ask for forgiveness
from their parents. And, of course, tense audience is also relieved. The grown
up sons stand by their parents. Now the entire family including granny prepare
themselves for the welcome of the new member of the family. In fullness of
time, a baby girl arrives. The scene of united family becomes a tear jerker. It
is the eldest son of the family who first takes the newborn baby girl in his
hands and pampers it as an elder brother. And the story ends on a happy note
like usual Indian story.
The theme of the story not only
revolves around the sex life of an elderly couple but also two young hearts –
the eldest son of the family and his girl friend. The young lovers don’t mind
enjoying the pre-marital sex although it is a taboo in Indian society. The
dialogues are written in Hinglish, a
typical characteristic quality of middle class. With hunky-dory attitude, it
always remains busy in playing good and upwardly mobile family that can’t talk
without English sentences and words.
The critics have given this small
budget movie 4 stars, and it has been successfully drawing the crowd. This
blogger also watched the movie at Cinepolise theatre at Rohini in West Delhi, last
Sunday.
The message is loud and clear
that sex among elderly couple should not be looked at with squinted eyes, and
be not frowned upon, by the young. Sex is a nature, and the world moves around it.
The movie which is every family story
is a feast to elderly people in their third age, and also a lesson to young
people who have aged parents.
