When a sly Ranjeet (Sanjeev Kumar) from the 1978 classic Pati Patni Aur Woh, slowly moved in on his office secretary Nirmala (Ranjeeta Kaur), despite having a wife (Vidya Sinha) and child home, we laughed, egged him on as well, perhaps. But, while the classic dramedy – which plays out – almost like a comedy of manners (questioning and commenting upon the farce of an artificial society) – one wonders, are all men – much like iconic Kumar’s Ranjeet – cheaters?
CINEMA AND CHEATING HEROES
Bollywood has, much like Pati Patni Aur Woh and its 2019 remake of the same name, somewhere iconized its cheating heroes in cinema, glorifying their infidelity in the garb of slapstick humour. Or in the case of Shah Rukh Khan’s 2006 film Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, raised them almost to the level of a Shakesperean tragic hero in a Herculean quest at finding true love, but reality matters and perhaps, vastly differs.
There is something consciously problematic about a society which glorifies infidelity in art. Cinema as an extension of that medium, somewhere propounds that idea as well. Thus, even in works of the great Satyajit Ray, infidelity has been profoundly etched, like with Amitabha (Soumitra Chatterjee) asking his ex-lover Karuna (Madhabi Mukherjee) to elope with him while her husband (Haradhan Bandopadhyay) sleeps in the 1965 classic Kapurush.
The problematic representation, garbed in an angle of love and fortitude, finds representation in Yash Chopra’s romantic drama Silsila as well. Amitabh Bachchan’s Amit Malhotra marries Shobha (Jaya Bachchan) out of a sense of duty, but rekindles his romance with Chandni (Rekha) – owing to a loveless marriage orchestrated as societal obligation. But chance and fate intervene and a sense of denouement prevails.
BUT, THAT IS CINEMA
But for every Dev in KANK there are inseparable college besties Jai (Imran Khan) and Aditi (Genelia D’Souza) in Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na. Or for every Ranjeet in Pati Patni Aur Woh, there is at least 10 other films where the hero is ready to die for his beloved.
Cinema. A medium of art to entertain might have glorified acts of infidelity as romantic or impish expressions to evoke emotions of empathy or humour. Real life is perhaps slightly different. Actors often live happy and long marriages with their spouse. Shah Rukh Khan, who exemplified infidelity in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehnaa has one of the most secure marriages with wife Gauri Khan in the industry. Similarly, despite whispers of a dalliance with Rekha, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan’s relationship is often illustrated as an example of a Bollywood happy marriage.
On International Men’s Day, as we celebrate the positive value men bring to the world, their families and communities, we just want to point out, dear readers, that much like real life, which is not always all that heroic, all men are not cheaters.
