The bond between these two families, and their belief that the country’s future should be defined by improved opportunities and expanded rights for religious minorities and the lower classes, is tested over time as the India that Mahesh and Nawab think they know transforms around them. And also connected to both the Kapoor and Sahib families is the courtesan Saeeda Bai (Tabu, working again with Nair after “The Namesake”), who is disrespected by the community for their assumptions about her sex life but revered for her singing prowess.
Brahmpur is a small world, and the interconnected relationships between the families help give “A Suitable Boy” structure so that once the narrative shifts to other locations—bustling epicenter Calcutta, rural village Rudhia—characters’ motivations and considerations remain clear. At the center is Lata, who eventually must choose between three suitors. History student Kabir Durrani (Danesh Razvi), for whom Lata feels great passion, but whose religious identity is a nonstarter with her mother Rupa. Amit, who is worldly and sophisticated, but who is automatically disliked by Rupa because of her dislike of his sister Meenakshi. And finally, shoe manufacturer Haresh (Namit Das), Rupa’s own choice for Lata, and a complete stranger. He comes from a “nice family,” Rupa insists. Why isn’t that enough for Lata?
Lata is a heroine along the lines of Elizabeth Bennet or Jo March—opinionated, clever, and desperate to experience as much of the world as possible—but her tight bond with her family, and her eye-rolling tolerance of her mother’s antics, maintain her relatability. Maniktala is a natural, likeable actress, and her performance here is warm and sincere, with flashes of youthful spontaneity. Lata’s struggle to please her mother while still living her life on her own terms is mirrored in the storyline for Maan, too, who finds himself in love with a woman who would never warrant his parents’ approval. Khattar is a Bollywood star, and he handles Maan’s emotional swings quite well, making the character’s grandiose decisions and fiery temper believable. And those two actors are surrounded by a summarily exceptional cast, in particular Kakkar, who shoulders the satirical treatment of the narrow-minded Rupa (prone to indignant complaints like “Poetry never leads to anything good”) and dances right up to the line of making the character an overbearing-Indian-mother caricature without crossing it, and Tabu, who gives nuance to Saeeda’s sense of otherness in a community that seems to both treasure and abhor her.
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