Akshay Kumar’s romantic drama that also creates an awareness against the open defecation nuisance plaguing the country is out in theaters. We take a look at it in the Toilet -Ek Prem Katha film review.
Keshav’s (Akshay Kumar) father (Sudhir Pandey), a staunch brahmin, believes that his son must only marry a girl who has an extra finger. Crazy as it may sound, that is just the tip of the iceberg. He, as do most other villagers, follow the ancient ways, mending prescribed customs to suit them. Such is their ignorance and obstinacy that they will not mind putting their kin through hardship if they stray from societal norms. And so, all that Keshav and his brother, Naru (Divyendu Sharma) can do is listen to their father, even if that means marrying a bullock.
Age is not on Keshav’s side, and when he runs into Jaya (Bhumi Pednekar), a forward-thinking and outspoken girl, he decides that he will marry her. The only hitch is that she doesn’t have an extra finger. Jaya, who is initially resistant to Keshav’s moves, subsequently falls for his charms. The duo comes up with a plan to deceive Keshav’s father. They manufacture a false finger. Temporarily, things seem to return to normalcy for Keshav.
However, when Jaya comes to live with Keshav in his house, she learns that every morning, she will have to walk to the outskirts of the village to defecate in the open. Having never done something like that before, Jaya refuses to amend her ways and leaves Keshav, vowing only to return upon his resolving this issue. Keshav is hell-bent on getting her back and pursues every avenue possible to get a toilet built in his house. Will Keshav succeed in getting Jaya back? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Although the film never gets too preachy, subtly it makes a point against open defecation. Conveying a social message via a famous star to the masses is a great idea for creating awareness. However, is the movie engaging? To some degree, it is interesting. Although, you are never as emotionally invested in Keshav and Jaya’s story as you would like to have been.
Way too often you feel that the narrative stretches needlessly, and neither the romantic angle nor the social cause seems to hit the perfect pitch. Toilet – Ek Prem Katha is caught in between going the distance on delivering a social message and being a romantic comedy with only maybe a whiff of populist agenda to it. If the filmmakers wanted to drive home the message against open defecation stating it as an ill of the society, they had to go harder, and if they didn’t have that on their mind, then they should have stuck to a romantic comedy with more hard-hitting one-liners to evoke laughter. Although, the script has some interesting dialogues and Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Pednekar, Sudhir Pandey, Anupam Kher, and Divyendu Sharma along with the rest of the cast ably capitalize on it.
Toilet – Ek Prem Katha will make the multiplex audiences talk about the issue of open defecation and to that extent the filmmakers seem to have achieved their goal. Although not high on entertainment, it certainly gives some food for thought, and maybe that is more than enough. Filmgoers expecting anything more from it will be a tad frustrated.
Toilet – Ek Prem Katha film review gives Toilet – Ek Prem Katha 2.5 out of 5
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