Badaltey Rishtey: I don't know how I feel about this

Badaltey Rishtey is the story of a love triangle, with a rather unusual twist: an astrologer has predicted that the heroine's first husband with die within the first 40 days of her marriage and that she will be happy after she remarries.

I was totally engrossed by the film the entire time, although with mixed emotions: I really liked the first hour, was distraught by the way things were going in the second, and was surprised by the last ten minutes, which finally made the whole movie make sense to me. Perhaps I should have been able to predict where the movie was going, but I certainly didn't. (I'm a good audience for screenwriters -- I willingly accept things that don't quite fit, without realizing that this signals a potential twist, but after something unexpected happens, I'll think, "Oh, that other thing that happened before now makes so much sense! What a brilliant script!")

That said, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this movie, and especially the resolution. If you haven't seen it yet, please come back to discuss after you do. If you have seen it, I'd really like to know what other people think, because I'm conflicted.



***Warning: Major spoilers below.**

My thoughts about this film are all mixed up with my thoughts about Woh Saat Din and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, both of which I have conflicted feelings about as well. (The fact that I was still surprised by the ending of this movie perhaps indicates how bad my plot-predicting skills are. I was shocked (and distressed) by the ending of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, the first one of the three I watched, and although I initially thought that Woh Saat Din would end the same way, I started second-guessing myself when Naseeruddin was listing the reasons why he thought the fictious film-within-the-film could and maybe should end differently. So it's pretty funny that I was once again blind-sided by this ending.)

In some ways, this film worked better for me than the other two. With Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, I felt like the filmmakers wanted me to believe that the girl ended up choosing her husband out of love, but I didn't buy it. Maybe this is partly because Ajay Devgan doesn't appeal to me, but the husband had seemed so sullen and stalkerish in most of the film that I didn't see why she would like him, especially since her love for the first guy had been so clearly established in the first part. And in Woh Saat Din, I saw a lot more reason for the heroine to like her husband, but the way she seemed happy to ditch him until she was asked to physically remove the mangalsutra made me think that she was choosing cultural beliefs or values over love, which isn't an entirely satisfactory ending for me.

Here, the girl had a very good reason to make the switch. I think part of why the film was effective for me was that I went through the same emotional transitions -- at first, I just wanted her to end up with Manohar (Rishi); then, when she found out about the prediction, I thought it was great that Sagar (Jeetendra) was willing and able to be the sacrificial lamb, although I did feel a little bad that he didn't know the full circumstances. And then, when things started going crazy, I thought, "Wow, I thought Manohar was a bit pushy in courting her before, but that just seemed like normal filmi behavior, and I certainly hadn't expected that he'd turn out to be psycho. She dodged a bullet there. I just hope Sagar stays alive." This made the ultimate choice much more realistic and believable than the same supposedly emotion-driven choice in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. And, the fact that Manohar was able to quickly persuade her that he was nothing like she'd initially thought suggests that maybe she didn't know him that well in the first place, which made me feel not quite as bad for her as I would have otherwise.

The ending still leaves me somewhat dissatisfied, though. For one thing, I thought the way the prediction was handled was a bit of a cop-out. If her husband had truly been in grave danger and her loyalty had saved him, then I'd buy that this was a way of avoiding his fate. But, it hardly seems like they should have been able to avoid the prediction through a completely manufactured threat. I also generally have a problem with plotlines based on someone lying to someone they love for their own good. For one thing, I think people usually find out the truth sooner or later, and that usually just makes things worse. There's also the problem that once again the men in the movie are making the girl's choices for her, although I don't find it as offensive as usual in the context of this film.

Also, of course, I was very sad for Manohar in the end. I'm hoping he meant what he said in his drunken song about not letting one unfortunate love affair ruin his life. He didn't seem the type to go the Devdas route, so I guess there is hope. There's no reason a person can't move on and fall in love with someone else, but in the filmi universe that's not always the case. In fact, I think I'm just not a fan of movies about love triangles in general. I want everyone to end up happy. I know that doesn't always happen in real life, but if I were a huge fan of realism I wouldn't be watching Bollywood films in the first place.