Pagglait packs the classic elements of a Bollywood funeral into one story– the going-ons beyond the mourning in the form of gossip, financial uncertainties and personal tensions, all camouflaged under awkward remembrance of the dear departee.
Yet the movie distinguishes itself through its focus on the central character– newly widowed Sandhya Giri (Sanya Malhotra) and the grieving family’s attitude towards her. A conformist all her life, but liberal enough to occasionally question the choices made for her, Sandhya had gone down a path most women take. Her MA degree had earned her a husband with a salary impressive to her middle-class parents, causing Sandhya to marry a stranger chosen for her. And with his premature passing sometime prior to the starting of the movie, Sandhya finds herself struggling to figure out the lack of sadness on her part.
Pagglait covers the period between Sandhya’s husband Astik’s cremation and “tehrvi”, the concluding ceremonies on the 13th day of passing. The movie’s calm narrative style is a strength matched by the shades of grey in all the characters: none of them are binarily good or evil, and when these flawed characters err in the most human ways, they are not censured by the film.
Writer-Director Umesh Bist maintains his composed story telling tone through out Pagglait, which kicks off with a tragedy and takes quite a few dramatic turns. The movie still is not without hitches, but it has the heart and substance to keep audiences interested through its runtime of 1 hour 55 minutes. The focus remains on Sandhya through out, but the side characters too have their details– from forbidden love in curious teens from a traditional family (which borders on incestuous but the movie doesn’t seem to mind), prevailing Islamophobia in caste-bound Indian families, to the traditional Lucknowi backdrop, and an unlikely bond forming between two women who would otherwise have been pitted against each other as a stereotype. Most Hindi films, have down the decades depicted widows as tragic figures but there is nothing miserable about the portrayal of Sandhya.
Though just another regular woman leading a regular life of conformism, Sandhya stands out with her awakening in the midst of a tragedy.
With an IMDB rating of 7/10 and a 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes, Pagglait’s big win is its potential for extraordinary within apparent mundanity. Sad, sweet and funny at times, it is a woman’s 13 day journey to creating her very own happily-ever-after and how a death breathed new life into her and the others left behind.