In Hansal Mehta's Baai, from Modern Love Mumbai, a tender act of love, longing and letting go

‘Isn’t opposing love the same as spreading hate?’ a character in Hansal Mehta’s Baai, a short from Modern Love Mumbai says, as she comes to terms with her son Manzu’s homosexuality. Pratik Gandhi’s Manzu is a gay man who has come out to everyone except for the person that he loves the most, his grandmother whom he calls Baai, played by the most prolific Tanuja. Ranveer Brar makes an endearing acting debut, as Rajveer, a chef and Manzu’s lover and husband. The story follows on how Manzu eventually comes out to Baai, embraces his homosexuality, and deals with pain as well as loss. 

It is no revelation that love is a common theme in Amazon Prime Video’s latest anthology, Modern Love In Mumbai, but in Mehta’s directorial Baai, it is coupled with longing and loss. It isn’t an understatement, that there has perhaps never been a more gentler and tender film than Baai because it understands the nature of love like none other – a little bit messy, a lot tolerant, and in the end, worth it. 

Pratik Gandhi as Manzu is staggeringly captivating, as he makes the emotions of love, longing and loss palpable. In a scene where he is trying to suppress his emotions and run away from Rajveer, only to collapse in his arms, we see a range of emotions on his face. From suffocating in fear and discomfort, to giving in to grief, in a scene of hardly five minutes, Gandhi makes us experience the agony that love is bringing him.

His previous venture with Hansal Mehta, and a blockbuster in its own right, Scam 1992 was a world apart from Baai, but if Gandhi was magnificent as the nonchalant and audacious Harshad Mehta, then he is as warm and tender as Manzu. If you ever second-guessed that the same guy who plays the unflinching and ambitious businessman, can play a soft and vulnerable gay man, then Pratik Gandhi makes sure that you’re proven wrong, because each line on his face knows how to act, and just like that he makes every emotion known to you tangible.

On asking Hansal Mehta about working with Pratik again after Scam 1992, the National Award Winning Director said, “It is always a pleasure with Pratik, and somebody told me after watching the film that his face is like a map of emotions. With Baai, the idea was to make a gentle film, and here was an actor who is extremely expressive, and sensitive. You could see remorse, love and yearning on his face, and that was what I wanted to achieve, that evocative tenderness.” 

On further elaborating on his casting choice of Ranveer Brar as Rajveer, the director says that, “I’d been watching his videos for a while, and the script kind of required a chef, so Ranveer was a great fit. In his Youtube series when he narrates stories regarding food and stuff,  you can see there’s a certain romance that’s going on between him and his food, so I could see that there’s an actor in him. The best part was that when we approached him for the role, he was quick to say yes.” 

Hansal Mehta |Image from Twitter

Brar is extremely sauve as a chef, as well as Manzu’s lover, and doesn’t show any apprehension of a new actor. He is comfortable in the skin of Rajveer, partially also owing to fact that he plays a chef, a character sketch too similar to his own self,  but then again, to play a charming homosexual in your first acting project itself, is a brave decision, however Brar makes it look too easy, as he seamlessly glides into Rajveer’s character.

Moreover, in a time when films and shows like RRR, Pushpa, Mirzapur and Family Man are ruling the roost, Hansal Mehta’s Baai provides a much-needed respite from the testosterone-driven cinema. It cleanses your palate with a gentle dose of love, and empathy, and god knows that we need a bit of it, these days. However, despite being a full-fledged love story, Mehta doesn’t shy away from indulging into a socio-political commentary on religious differences and homophobia. He even seamlessly incorporates the horrors of the Bombay Riots of 1992-93 and thereby captures the essence of Bombay like no other story did in the anthology. There’s a dialogue in the film said by the lovely Tanuja aka Baai, that I’ll never forget, and it goes like, nafrat failane wale log aksar bikau hote hain. 

A friend of mine, who was extremely moved by the film, told me that he wept a lot after watching it, because it says a lot about the times we’re living in. Simply put, you can’t run away from what’s happening around you. I am a filmmaker, someone else is something else, but none of us can escape the politics of it, after all we’re all divided equally right? So as a filmmaker, and even more so as a person, there is no escaping that facet of life, therefore commenting on it through the story’s narrative is only natural” 

Furthermore, one of the most endearing parts about Baai is how the worlds of music and food dissolve into each other, similar to how Manzu and Rajveer come together. Through Manzu who is a singer, and Rajveer who is a chef, Hansal Mehta, makes a character out of food and music, or how millennials would say it, uses them as the most enchanting love languages. Shakespeare once said, that if music be the food of love, then play on, and if there ever was a visual representation of the same then Baai was it. 

The ace director while speaking about the elements of music and food in the film said that “I just put two of my favorite fields in the film, because I love music and I love food. They are my constant companions, and because Baai is such a soft, and personal film, there are parts of me that I’ve put in it, like any other project but especially in this because it’s so warm and kind.” 

That said, Baai’s music is one that I’ll personally cherish forever because of how heart-rending it is. Mehta uses the full version of 'Chandni Raat', by Ali Sethi, a choice that makes all the impact. However, the star has to be Sonu Nigam’s Kaisi Baatein Karte Ho, a modern melody with an old-world touch to it. It has been forever since a song like this hit our doorsteps, a song so poignant, and soulful that it is almost a salve to your bruised heart. There’s a line in the song, yun dikhate ho, gham nahi koi, hanste hanste phir aankh bharte ho, had…karte ho! and perhaps it resembles our lives and the message that the film is trying to pass on. How we all lead lives filled with pretense, only to reach a point where collapsing into a disheveled lump of sorrow becomes inevitable. 

Baai’s music is a protagonist in its own right, and as Hansal Mehta tells me, ‘I am proud of Baai’s music. For me romance can never happen without music, so I didn’t want to let go of this opportunity, and I could see the music before my eyes. So yes, I am very proud of what we have.” Well, I couldn’t agree more, because in the times of remixes and remakes, here’s an original song, and background score that will stand the test of time. 

Hansal Mehta’s Baai, is a memorable film on several fronts. It stays with you for the tenderness it brings on screen, and for the soul-stirring commentary it makes on the allure of love, and fickleness of hate. Ankur Pathak makes a beautiful debut as a screenwriter, while the most special Tanuja makes us weep like a baby. Talat Aziz, Kashmira Irani and Manasi Joshi, provide the best supporting cast, whilst the stars Pratik Gandhi and Ranveer Brar sweep you off your feet.

Alas, ofcourse, Baai is what it is today because the captain of ship, Hansal Mehta who is a genius with a heart of gold. A man who pulls your heartstrings like none other. In parting words, he tells me something, that I shall keep with me forever, and that is, “I have been undiffered by what people think since a long time. Criticism pushes me to keep at it, while trolling and hate only tells me that I must be doing something right. The simple truth is, that there’s a lot happening in the world around us, and there are too many stories waiting to be told. These tales have to be given a platform, they have to be told in the most magnificent way, and so I can’t give up, because ultimately I am a storyteller."

Modern Love Mumbai is streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Takshi Mehta is a freelance journalist and writer. She firmly believes that we are what we stand up for, and thus you'll always find her wielding a pen.

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