Masand's Verdict: Baabul

In Pics: The big Baabul bash

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Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham, Hema Malini.

Direction: Ravi Chopra

In this week's big Bollywood release Baabul, Amitabh Bachchan plays a father-in-law with a heart of gold. When his son Salman Khan is killed in a car accident, Bachchan becomes concerned about the future and the well-being of his bahu Rani Mukherjee, whose life's turned upside down.

In the face of much opposition from his family and from society, Bachchan sets out to get Rani remarried with the intention of giving her a new lease of life. And the groom he picks is an old friend of hers, John Abraham, who's loved her for years.

Let me be upfront and tell you exactly what I believe is the fundamental flaw of this film. Baabul wants to be taken seriously as a progressive film that tackles the prickly issue of widow remarriage.

It's a film that claims to encourage women's emancipation. But just take a closer look at the film's story—it's the men making all the important decisions. Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham decide that Rani should be remarried. Nobody even thinks of asking Rani for her opinion on the matter.

Nobody pays any attention to the fact that another female member in the house, Hema Malini, is opposed to this marriage. Hello, what women's emancipation are we talking about?

I must also confess that I find films like Baabul particularly disturbing because they seem to miss the larger point. Of course widow remarriage is an important and relevant issue, but come on, can we stop behaving like widowhood is similar to cancer. Like it's a disease that needs to be cured, or healed.