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Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Luv Ranjan's latest romcom, was released during Holi 2023 to a solid box office debut but mixed reviews from critics. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor as two young people who are drawn to each other and even get engaged, but the girl develops cold feet and the boy attempts to figure out why, but they do it without informing each other. Dimple Kapadia, Boney Kapoor, Hasleen Kaur, and Anubhav Singh Bassi also appear in Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar Movie Review: Ranbir Kapoor & Shraddha Kapoor's 'Complicated Love Saga' Is More Gloss, Less Entertainment!
Ranbir Kapoor plays Rohan Arora nicknamed Micky, a privileged guy who oversees his family businesses but also has a secret side career as a breakup specialist that he runs with his bestie Manu (Bassi). During Manu's bachelor party trip in Spain, he meets Nisha aka Tinni (Shraddha Kapoor), a friend of Manu's fiancee. They are immediately drawn, have a physical relationship, and by the conclusion of the vacation, Micky has successfully proposed to Tinni.
However, Tinni gets cold feet when she meets Micky's happy-go-lucky family. Tinni, seeing their close-knit functioning as a threat to her fiery independence, decides she needs a break from Micky and seeks advice from the 'breakup expert,' not realising it's her fiance. Micky is taken aback, but instead of telling Tinni the truth, he plays games with her to discover out why she wants to break up with him.
So what happens next? Before we get to the finale, let's warn you that the below article has MAJOR SPOILERS so read ahead only if you have seen the film.
The Finale
Tinni and Micky finally part up after several games, but without an honest chat. They later rekindle their friendship at Manu and Kinchi's elaborate godbharai ceremony. Tinni discovers via Micky's niece that Micky is the breakup expert she paid to break up with himself. They finally have a proper chat before she leaves for London for her new career, but Micky does not stop her.
Tinni also calls Micky's mother to apologise and clear the air that Micky isn't to blame for the engagement cancellation. When Micki's family confronts him, he discloses why they are no longer a couple: Tinni was feeling suffocated by his family's 'interference' in her affairs and desired her freedom. Micky's mother says she doesn't mind if her prospective daughter-in-law stays apart as long as they're happy together.
Micky and the rest of the family race to the airport to stop Tinni. This sequence could be director Luv Ranjan's homage to the traditional cliche of romcoms concluding at the airport. On the funny drive there, they keep raising red flags that could have worried Tinni in the past and blame each other, mainly Micki. Finally, they reach Tinni before she takes the aircraft, but it is his family that proposes to her rather than Micky. Because, you know, when it comes to Indian marriages, you don't just marry the person; you marry the family.
Anyway, Tinni accepts the proposal and kisses Micky in front of everyone. Tinni is later revealed to be living with Micky's family rather than apart from them, having happily integrated into the unit. We catch glimpses of Micky and Tinni's married life throughout the end credits, with Tinni becoming pregnant and the couple having a kid. So everything works out in the end, right? That's not quite correct...
The Compromise
Tinni had always savoured her fierce streak of independence, and there is no wrong in her wanting to do so. However, the movie tries to blame that aspect of hers to being part of a family that's dysfunctional and her mother not being treated right there. Micky's family is almost of the opposite of hers, they are way too close-knit, and for her, that's kinda suffocating, though Micky is pretty happy with how they are.
Micky's family also doesn't let much of her aspersions fly away with their interactions. Micky's mother attempting to plan out their future housing arrangement, his sister changing her gynaec, Micky bringing his family to their date night, his father bringing her to the kitchen to make food, and they even playfully suggest she leave her job - all of these are legitimate red flags for Tinni, an independent woman. What's more disturbing is that Micky is so well-snuggled in these alterations that he is unaware that his sweetheart is unhappy with them. Tinni's desire to withdraw is understandable, but it makes little sense that she opted not to have an adult dialogue about it with Micky. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar: Explained! How the Two Cameos Link Ranbir Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor's Romcom to Luv Ranjan's Multiverse.
However, towards the end, Tinni pulls off a Rachel (from FRIENDS). She quits her well-paid work in London to marry Micky and live with his family. The closing scene demonstrates that her concerns about his family were unfounded and that she readily fits into Micky's family dynamics, even though the 'interferences' remain. The fact that the epilogue concludes with them having a kid says that their lives have come to their most treasured ending, maybe for a woman's life (not per me, but as per the makers). It's as if the film was attempting to convince Tinni that she was wrong to have her own space apart from her overbearing in-laws. Ah, Luv Ranjan, you never disappoint, even when you attempt to pass your latest work as 'progressive'.
The jovial family dynamics of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Hum Saath Saath Hai inspire these sequences, and the movie even plays a meta nod to them in the airport finale. Unsurprisingly, if you rewatch these Sooraj Barjatya movies, you would realise that women basically don't have much agency there. Nisha in HAHK is emotionally manipulated to marry her widower brother-in-law though she is in love with his brother, and if it wasn't for their dog, she would have gone through with the marriage. Less said about the heroines in HSSH, where the film keeps gleefully hinting that their place is in the kitchen and to make babies, the better.
The problem I felt with the TJMM's 'happy' ending is that the movie doesn't exactly try to think of Tinni's aspersions as something worth delving into. Blaming her own broken family dynamics for this, the film paints her dilemma of being with Micky's family as an experience that she hasn't ever had, and when she does, she is totally happy with it. It shows that she 'compromised' and therefore everyone had a happy ending. But what if Micky had 'compromised' and they stayed separately after marriage, would that mean Tinni would have been seen as a home-breaker?
This makes me realise how the climax of the 1987 Rekha-starrer Sansar (remake of the Tamil film Samsaram Adhu Minsaram)was so ahead of its time for a film made then. When the daughter-in-law realises that her joint family can never work out the cracks, she suggests her husband to move away to their own space, and the film actually showed their folks living in much more agreement. Hey, if Tinni is really happy, who are we to complain? Now that we have seen rich, privileged people do silly stuff to complicate their lives, let's go back to our already complicated, grimy lives.
The Inspiration(?)
Many fans are pointing out on social media that the epilogue of TJMM feels inspired by Ranbir's own relationship with Alia Bhatt. And I mean, it does make sense. Two good-looking people hitching up, getting married and soon enough getting pregnant. Alia Bhatt comfortably adjusting with Ranbir's family, as those family pics want to tell us (certain reports claim that Ranbir's exes could never manage to do that), and finally they have their baby girl. Happy ending in film, happy ending in real life.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2023 03:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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