The transposition of Bheja Fry from the tattered menu of a sleepy Irani restaurant to your chosen multiplex is no small tale. A (French) inspired tale of an upscale Mumbai socialite bringing along a local idiot for dinner was made at a miserable budget and laughed its way to surplus profits and is still adding to the sum total through DVD sales.
Enough statistics of the movie. I was not overtly impressed by the movie on the whole; it, of course, had its moments with the protagonist Bharat Bhushan (played brilliantly by Vinay Pathak) pulling the movie away from mediocrity.
The movie, largely, talks about a typical Indian middle class citizen being constantly abused, unbeknownst to him, by a rich snobbish socialite via innumerable contorted funny situations. Which led me to think about the typical mould into which the middle class has been cast into, both in media and in society in general. The urban middle class, which by reports, has been constantly burgeoning and being empowered over the last decade is, by far, the most abused caricature or social model that is thriving out there.
Beginning the last decade, the unknown Indian, created ingeniously by Laxman, has been used as an excuse for sympathy and grit time and again by movies and media. Be it socialist movies like Main Azaad Hoon or the media reporting on tragedies, the common man has been the showcased as the model of identity for his only attribute: being common. Till the late nineties, politicos and media used the tag to narrate heart pulling incidences and swell the pride of the common man.
The scenario changed early this century with the boom in disposable income that broadened the spectrum inhabited by the middle class and saw them making their way to malls and multiplexes enjoying their popcorns and plastic money. Again, the media kicked in singing hosannas about the common man and the power he now holds to change the destiny of the country. It is painful to realize how such marketing gimmicks seem to influence sane people into getting classified as the “common” man. If anything, I hate the tag and though I, by broad classification, fall into that category, I would refuse to called “common” by anyone.
The common man, if such a myth exists, is that individual who wants to up himself into the upper crust by munching the Big Mac, forming the bee hive on weekends at your neighbourhood mall and sporting the latest smart phone gadget in the hopes that he be recognized differently. Sadly, however, the common man remains common.. all alone in ever broadening spectrum…
Sometimes.. probably ignorance is bliss..
