Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khoobsurat stars Rekha and Dina Pathak.
How would you describe a place where one has absolutely no freedom to eat what they want, entertain themselves how they see fit and laugh at what they find funny? This place could be a prison, an autocracy or a reality show, but no one would imagine this to be their home. So when Hrishikesh Mukherjee made the film Khoobsurat, which was set in a household that’s bound by the strictest of rules and operates under the leadership of one woman, he added a bit of humour to make the subject palatable. Khoobsurat is one of those films that frequently played on satellite channels in the 1990s and 2000s so unlike many other films of its time, Khoobsurat has been seen by multiple generations.
On the surface, the film appears to be a family comedy where Rekha’s Manju disrupts the balance of the Gupta household when she visits them as a guest but on closer inspection, the film is a commentary on the post-Emergency era that is considered as one of the darkest chapters since India’s independence. Mukherjee frequently takes a dig at the hypocrisy of the government and keeps reminding his audience that they must never stop asking questions, no matter what the man/woman in-charge says, and that’s precisely why the film still feels timely.
A large part of Khoobsurat is set in a bungalow where the Guptas live. Dina Pathak, playing the matriarch Nirmala, is the leader of the clan who runs a tight ship. In her house, anyone who turns up late on the breakfast table does not get anything to eat. Even though she is a member of the women empowerment committee, she wants to find a bahu (daughter-in-law) who would stick to the script. She believes her rules are for the welfare of the house but does not realise that her music-loving son or her tabla-playing husband have no freedom to even practice their favourite hobbies. After Rekha’s Manju enters this household, she comments that the rules of this house are worse than those set during the Emergency.
Rekha plays the rebellious Manju in Khoobsurat.
Mukherjee focuses on Manju as she tries to start a revolution within the household. She starts recruiting members of the family in her pursuit of ‘nirmal anand (pure bliss)’ way of living, where she basically tells them that there’s nothing more joyous than practicing free will. Manju and Nirmala are the two opposing forces here where one wants to provide the family members with the tools to be happy, and the other is a strict authoritarian. Manju operates with love and compassion, but Nirmala declares that her word is gospel. Her intentions aren’t malicious but rather than providing a directive, she believes that her word shouldn’t be questioned. Another trait which was commonly seen in the Emergency days where the freedom of the press was curtailed. The idea of asking questions isn’t encouraged in 2023 as well which again, makes a light and frothy film like Khoobsurat just as relevant even 43 years later.
Like many rulers, Nirmala doesn’t like questions and shuts them down as soon as one is asked. In one of the scenes, when her son questions the government’s hypocrisy on the heavy taxation of alcohol and cigarettes, even though they label it as harmful products, his father tells him about the revenue that the government earns on the sale of these products. Nirmala shuts down this conversation as soon as it begins, and changes the subject because having a free discourse in her house is simply not allowed. Manju’s democratic way of living is a threat so when Nirmala finds out that her fortress has been invaded, she banishes Manju.
Khoobsurat is one of the popular works of Hrishikesh Mukherjee but while it appears to be a family entertainer, the film is essentially a political statement by the filmmaker, and a smart one at that. Without making any direct remarks about the state of the country, Mukherjee makes sure that the audience walks away with the thought that living under authoritarian rule is like living in prison, and no one living in a free country like ours should be made to do that.