Margarita with a Straw - A good watch, albeit the unusual subject and some flaws

“So what if your kid is Autistic. I heard they are very intelligent and he will become ‘alright’.”

“So what if you do not have kids? I know a great doctor, go to him. You can adopt also right?”

Our society is slowly becoming sensitive to people who are going through struggles in life or if they themselves or someone they love, have special needs. However often we try to be extra sympathetic without knowing the facts and may not understand that the way we choose to provide our support may actually hurt them.

They may not need that extra bit of sympathy or advice. We need to realize that more often than not, people do not want sympathy, which is sometimes synthetic in the first place. All they need is an effort to sincerely understand their situation and to be genuinely treated as equals.

“Margarita with a Straw” is an excellent attempt to show the life, the struggles and the coming of age of a girl with cerebral palsy and hits most of the right cords regarding the mental condition of such people, the overall attitude of their family and the society towards them.

Kalki as the protagonist Laila is par excellence. Due to her condition she has severe problems with her motor skills and speech, but she has enough talent otherwise and is passionate about music. She writes the lyrics for her college band and her emotions and desires are just like any other college going kid.

To get into such a character, the expressions, the mannerisms, the speech, the helplessness sometimes followed by the courage and the resilience, everything is perfect. A lot of effort goes into playing a character like that, so full marks for the same.

Revathy as the supportive mother is as seasoned an actress as ever. Her steel like supportive attitude towards her family, in spite of being a cancer patient, especially towards her daughter with special needs, even when she wants to go abroad to pursue higher education, her sadness within at times, has been excellently executed. Sayani Gupta as a blind girl, Laila’s friend and roommate Khanum also delivers a very good performance, as an important character in the plot.

Director Shonali Bose gets most things right with her story telling and she deserves kudos for making a movie on this subject. Realities like the society tries to understand such conditions, friends are helpful most of the times, people show sympathy, but then we are still not there yet completely have been portrayed very well. The middle finger to the senior lady at the music competition is an excellent scene for example.

The fact that the person with special needs would also have grey shades like any of us, would bargain for things, can be selfish and may subconsciously use people have been shown honestly. The idea that we all want to fit in and eventually realize that real happiness and contentment is found within our own selves has been driven through in a nice and subtle way.

Movie goers must encourage such subjects because they help people understand such conditions.

However the sensitive subject should not make one reluctant of having a critical view of all the aspects of the film. When I watch such movies I consider Dustin Hoffman’s “Rainman” and the Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bhaduri starrer “Koshish” as benchmarks.

Off late while most Hindi movies have been way off the mark in portraying characters with special needs, Taare Zameer Par is one bright exception. Priyanka Chopra’s depiction as an Autistic person in Barfi is also a good example.

Though the character building of the protagonist is top notch, the film does fail at some levels. It successfully portrays that the explorations and understanding of the self, the yearnings and desires of a person with a special condition is the same as other human beings. Understanding one’s sexuality is also a part of it. However it is just one part.

In the movie, the sexual aspect is too emphasized and by the end it becomes a bit of overkill. Other aspects like aspirations, the relationship with others and the struggles thereof, the other myriad facets of the journey called life are covered, but not in as much depth as they should have been.

Acceptance and sensitivity towards people with special needs is something we need to develop a lot more as a nation of people. Acceptance of gay relationships is another such issue. While I support both issues, mixing them in one movie seemed to shift the actual focus.

The other way to look at it might be that that the movie rightly does not educate or preach. It just shows the story of girl with cerebral palsy, who also happens to be bisexual.

It is a bit slow and on an unusual subject and hence may not do well at the box office. However it is a good watch, primarily due to the acting prowess of the leading ladies. The thin storyline and less than excellent screenplay prevent it from being the masterpiece it could have been.

Please do watch it for Kalki’s acting though, 3 stars out of 5 from me.