Toilet: Ek Prem Katha — Swachch toilet humour

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Anupam Kher, Divyendu Sharma, Sana Khan

Rated: 8/10

Earthy, real, contemporary and fun — Akshay Kumar helms a largely entertaining film on an issue that is pan-India, serious, in focus and long pending, not to mention, one of the star campaigns launched by the Modi Government.

From railway tracks in concrete urban jungles, to open fields in the countryside, horrifying incidents have long been happening, more horrifying than the mindsets of the people propelling them. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha keeps a tight hold on the jocular vein to throw-up national issues like religious regression, patriarchy, corruption, social taboo, crime against women, feudal mindsets and a mass angst against any kind of sanitation drives that may upset a population’s ageold societal more.

The film is a gem because it treads the razor edge of laughing at but not laughing about the social evil of open toilets. It is a very serious crime and health issue which director Shree Narain Singh throws up to put the spotlight on our society’s till now neglected dark space.

That he makes us introspect deeply while we laugh at our own self is something that Akshay Kumar showcases perfectly with his rustic humour, his larger than life presence as a semi-literate village bloke trying to save his marriage by fighting the system to get a mere toilet facility to the village.

The film has commas and full stops at the right places. It jumps seamlessly from humour to romance to the serious social issue at hand. Akshay is the driving force of the film though his wife played by Bhumi Pednekar, who decides to leave him till a toilet is provided to her in the house, is no less.

The ambience of a tier-III town around Agra has been captured beautifully. The women’s lota parties, the blinding lights on their posteriors, the eve teasing, the gossips around these early morning sessions and ultimately the plight of the women who are forced into controlling their bowels through the day and yet not being able to control their mindsets through the centuries throws up a lot for you to think about.

It is a befitting film on a subject that is as important if not more than poverty, illiteracy and poor sanitation — truly swachch toilet humour.

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 13 August, 2017