For cinema, love and war are two great mixes for a dramatic cocktail. In Mani Ratnam’s 1992 film Roja, the titular character searches for her beloved husband who has been kidnapped by militants in Kashmir. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942: A Love Story (1994), in the backdrop of a waning British Raj, has love blooming between the son of an Empire loyalist and the daughter of a freedom fighter. Or take the case of, probably the most acclaimed love story of all time, Casablanca (1942), in which Humphrey Bogart’s cynical Rick Blaine chances upon an ex-flame (Ingrid Bergman) in the Moroccan town of Casablanca, a stopover for those seeking refuge from Nazi occupation. All these tales have two factors in common. Firstly, the characters are directly affected by the conflict around them and secondly, the said conflict is a part of its intended audience’s shared history.
Probably, because it doesn’t make space for the aforementioned points, the basic plotline of Bawaal seems improbable. Director Nitesh Tiwari (Dangal, 2016, Chhichhore, 2019) takes a Lucknow-based couple on a trail of World War II cities, where they realise the infantility of their issues and resolve their “andar ki war” (the battle within). At times Bawaal feels like two separate stories, one of a faraway war, other of a home-grown love, aching to converge at a middle point. It feels as difficult and as far-fetched as tying together the tails of two in-air choppers with a nylon rope.
The film’s title should have been Mahaul instead of Bawaal, since its protagonist keeps on harping about the former (“Mahaul aisa banao ki logo ko mahaul yaad rahe, result nahi” (Make such an ambience that people remember it and not what it ultimately yields). Ajay Dixit (Varun Dhawan) is the acclaimed bhaiyyaji of Lucknow. Ajju bhaiyya looks like a local politician with those tight-fitted shirts, glaring shades and a Bullet for a ride. Anticlimactically, he is a history teacher who probably can’t tell Hitler from Stalin. His legend, still, is part of local folklore. Two teachers discuss in a staffroom: “Ajju bhaiyya would have become a collector but while giving the exam he got an epiphany that by becoming a teacher instead, he can produce hundred more collectors.”
In reality, Ajay is a failure who drinks away the pain of being left behind in life. Public perception is all he has. For an extra star in his image, he marries the smart and independent Nisha (Janhvi Kapoor), who comes from a “good background.” The only catch? Nisha suffers from epilepsy. In a telling scene, after the marriage, when her vidai is delayed, Ajay checks up on Nisha only to find her getting a seizure. He looks via the window, before covering it with a curtain, wary if anybody else saw.
Varun Dhawan, since Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2014) and the more recent Jugjugg Jeeyo (2022), has found a home in egoistical man-child characters. He plays Ajju bhaiyya with a balance of humour and heart and isn’t afraid of being transparent with his character’s flaws. His version of a good husband is sparing the rod. “Have I ever hit or shouted at you?” he tells Nisha when she asks her why they can’t live like husband and wife.
Director Nitesh Tiwari, with his amusing observations of middle-class life, keeps one hooked to the plot, till Ajju bhaiyya slaps an MLA’s son and is suspended from school. An inquiry is looming over him and he decides to…travel to Europe to teach students World War II from the ground and also take Nisha for their honeymoon (He never took her out, lest she gets a seizure in public and ruin his reputation). Image is everything, everything is image.
Once in Europe, Tiwari loses grip. His humour is contained in Dhawan’s animated pronunciations of French words or stereotyping of Gujarati families on foreign trips. The film also spirals into becoming World War II plight porn. Ajay realizes the futility of materialistic things after visiting a World War museum in Berlin. He even gets a monochrome vision of himself being forced to pack all his belongings in one bag under the stern gaze of SS officers. He takes his and Nisha’s wedding photo frame as an officer whips out a gun behind him. At Auschwitz, Ajay sees himself and Nisha in a gas chamber, along with Jews, choking on pesticide. It might be the most indulgent depiction of a suffocating relationship I have ever seen. During their trip, they even go to listen to a Holocaust survivor, who only talks about how he took his wife for granted but once they were in the camp, he lived every day just to have an hour with her. Oh, what are the odds?
The only way the characters in Bawaal can empathize with the horrors of World War II is by imagining themselves in those situations. Only those details from the war are mentioned which can help the characters draw parallels with their own lives. Conveniently, Hitler is reduced to a guy who merely wanted to annex the countries around him (Fascism? Anti-semitism?). Moreover, the War isn’t part of our common consciousness as Indians so it doesn’t make for the emotional effect that a story on Partition might invoke. Bawaal’s tagline reads “Every love story has its own war.” This one might not be yours to fight.
Directed by: Nitesh Tiwari
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Manoj Pahwa, Mukesh Tiwari
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 2/5 stars
(This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)
