Typical Middle Class Family Problems

With the hlep of indian cinema we are trying to throw light on the problems faced by the indian middles class families, our parents and grand parents often mention the struggles they had to face during their childhood, how they used to walk about 100 kms to reach their school, how they used to sleep without air conditioners, how they were satisfied with every small thing they got in their life, Blah! Blah! Blah! and many more cliche middle class issues, we have always associated middle class familes with stereotypical money issues but we don't know that these issues often lead to more family issues, after watching these movies we have come to a point that there is a gradual change in desire, needs, dreams and issues of middle class families from one decade to another

The movie Saaransh is about the life of an old couple(Parvati and Pradhan) who get to know that their son had died in the U.S. Along the whole movie, the couple goes through a lot of trouble like his son’s remaining ashes and materials getting snatched by customs official, having to rent their apartment to a girl(Sujata) and so on. Then they decide to meet a Saint who tells them that their son would be reincarnated near them as a kid. And at the same time, Sujata gets pregnant and they come to believe that Ajay is the one reincarnated as a child in Sujata’s womb.

But the relationship of Sujata and her boyfriend(Vilas) is not liked by his Dad and so they try different ways to abort the baby without the consent of Sujata. So the old couple try their best to protect the baby even contacting the chief minister when Vilas’ Dad tries to interfere. But in the end, Vilas’ dad tries to calmly confront them and Pradhan’s accepts as the baby was causing a trouble for all and Sujata and her boyfriend leaves. In the end, as Parvati says they should consume poison, Pradhan says that the Saaransh(meaning) of their life is in its beautiful wrinkles and they did a good deed in helping save Sujata’s baby despite the problems they faced.

The last scene shown in the movie is about the couple taking a walk in the garden where they see beautiful flowers had sprouted in the place where Pradhan had once scattered his son’s ashes earlier in the movie. Pradhan then tells Parvati that real beauty of life is that we all are mortal and life goes on.Thus, the movie is about the problems faced by an middle class couple in 1980’s.

The movie Antardwand, which depicts the issues faced by a typical middle class family, is inspiredfrom a real life based story. The movie is about the protagonist(Raghuveer) who is in love with his girlfriend but is forced to marry a girl(jaanaki) from a village without his consent.Raghuveer is a small town boy, living with his girlfriend in Delhi, hoping to fulfill his dad's dream of qualifying for the civil services some day.But in the meanwhile, as he walks out of the house in a huff when dad refuses to accept the love of his life, Jaanaki’s father abducts Raghuveer to marry her, as raghuveer’s dad had earlier rejectedher proposal. This was done withoutRaghuveers’s father knowing this happened. This was commonly seen in Bihar in middle class families.

This was also done by the bride’s father to save them from giving high dowry at the time. And, the groom was forced to get the bride pregnant to settle the issue created by abduction. Jaanaki and Raghuveer both were married without them being ready for the marriage. These are the common issues seen in many places in bihar. Organized gangs came forward to carry out these abductions. The director has excellently highlighted the result of such forced marriage and the emotional damage that both the girl and the boy suffer from. The film has also won the National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues at the 2009 National Awards. Few, if any, Hindi movies have been able to project north Bihar as authentically as this movie has been by the director. Also, there is no flashiness in the movie, just a pure and unswerving commitment to the narrative. Thus, we can conclude that in the 2000’s, the middle class stilled faced these problems mostly in the villages and nearby area.

Ferrari ki Sawaari is a movie about a small middle class Parsi family living in Mumbai, The movie shows us the difficulties faced by the family to fulfil young Kayo’s dream. Kayo lived with his father Rustom and Grand Father in a small house, Kayo was a fine Cricketer and wanted to pursue his dream to be a professional cricketer and his family with their bad financial conditions helps him to fulfill his dream

The movie starts in a cricket field where Kayo was batting brilliantly chasing the target but get run out in the last ball because of his torn shoes , but he can’t buy new shoes because they just bought a new bat and due to families bad financial condition his father Rustom couldn’t get him new shoes, I the next scene they were told that there was a cricket camp at Lords cricket Ground London and it would be a great experience for budding cricketers but the only con was that the camp costed 1.5 lakh Rupees, which was more than Rustom had ever imagined. Kayo’s coach said that there were many cricketers who hadn’t taken any camps but were still successful but Kayo’s eyes were dreaming to play at the lords and Rustom loved his son a lot to let his dream breakdown

Rustom was an honest Government official who earned very less that no banks considered giving him a loan so the only option left for him was to steal Sachin Tendulkar’s Ferrari, a Politician’s son had said that if he got a Ferrari on his marriage he will give 2 lakhs to the person who bought it for him and Rustom Stole a Ferrari and bought it to wedding but he didn’t receive the money because the car was so covered that nobody could even see that if the car was a Ferrari or not

On the other hand Rustom’s father was a failed cricketer who was cheated by his best friend on his way into the national team, who went on to become a legend of the game and was the selector for this particular camp. And that is why Kayo’s Grand father went to ask for a favour but was denied

And then one thing led to Another and finally with the help of neighbours and bankers Rustom was able to collect 1.5 lakh for Kayo’s training camp and the movie ends with Kayo batting on the pitch of Lords with Sachin Tendulkar on the non Strikers end

We can Conclude that in 2010’s middle class have started dreaming and could go to any extend to fulfill them.

Aankhon Dekhi is a movies based on a joint family living in Uttar Pradesh . Where Bhauji lived with his youger brother their wives and 3 children, the movie starts in the living room of their house where Bhauji’s daughter is caught having an affair with a boy and everyone in the house is opposing it, they made an assumption that the guy was not fit for their girl and opposed it but until when Bhauji his brother and their friends went to beat the guy he realized that the guy was not as bad as they thought of him to be and he had a decent job and future plans.

And from that day Bhauji decided that he will not assume things until he sees and experiences them , which made him quit his job. That decision made his younger brother the only bread winner in the family and so he decided to split and shift to new house Bhauji was not not happy about it and decided that he will not talk with his brother anymore, Bhauji’s son was also not doing any job and also had many debts on his head while paying teen patti ( Indian poker), when Bhauji went to clear the debts the dealer asked him to play a game Bhauji played really well and the dealer asked Bhauji to represent him and that was their source of income

Bhauji then gave his daughter the permission to marry the guy she loves and the family was busy in preparation and Bhauji was still in his belief of not assuming things until they were experienced, Bhauji also went near a tiger to see if it actually roars, while they were distributing invitation cards Bhauji had to go to his brothers place to give him an invitation which he did keeping his ego aside but both didn’t talk to each other properly, but at the wedding day they both kept their ego aside hugged eachother and apologized

We can conclude that although there are differences between the family members in a middle class family but they will always put their family first and also that the middle class are starting to stop assuming what the world is saying and believing in their own experiences.

The movie Mukti Bhavan is about an old guy Dayanand Kumarwho one day declares to his family that he believes that his time has come and hence would like to go to Varanasi and pass away. So, Rajeev, Dayanand’s son takes his father to Mukti Bhawan in Benaras on his multiple requests. The two start living in a room facing the Ganga while Dayanand waits for his life to end and achieve Moksh(Salvation).

One night, earlier in the film, when Dayanand and Rajiv randomly go out for a stroll along the ghats, Dayanand tells his son that he would like to die with a celebration and not with sadness.Meanwhile, Lata , Rajeev’s wife and daughter,Sunita visit him and Daya. They plead Dayanand to come home along with them but he was reluctant and decided to stay there. Soon after, Dayanand sends Rajeev back to the city and decides to reside alone in Mukti Bhawan. Soon Dayanand passes away and was thus in peace and salvation. Mukti Bhawan's main final scenecelebrates departure and embraces death. It teaches the viewer to part with their loved ones with appreciation for their life and not with the pain of their absence.

The journey to banaras was thus a transformation for Rajeev and not a salvation one as he gets a fresh perspective of life where he reunites with a greater degree with his family particularly his daughter as earlier he didn’t ask what she truly feels about her marriage. Thus, the movie depicts thelifeand problems of a typical modern middle class life. 

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