Before moving on to the review, I would like to share my views on the three stages of a child’s growth i.e., before the age of 12, in the teen years and later in the college post 16-17, as shown in our Hindi Cinema since the early era. Now a quite surprising yet interesting observation in this context is that where we can easily find many movies made around the first and third stages of this growth process, there we don’t find enough attempted on the second one in Hindi cinema, which happens to be the most crucial stage depicting the adolescence years of a growing kid.
Here I am talking about the years when a child is witnessing many changes, both in his or her physical body as well as in the thinking patterns of a mind relating to infatuation, love, sex and mutual relationships. Personally I feel, Raj Kapoor’s MERA NAAM JOKER (1970) touched this particular subject, in the most sensitive & meaningful way ever till date (in its first part) because we still find the issue highly conservative, even in this present age of information quite ironically. Therefore when a first time woman director Sonam Nair, makes a film about these crucial years in the life of a chubby, honest & innocent girl Gurpreet Kaur, then for me, its unarguably a bold & innovative venture coming from our Hindi Cinema after a long time. Plus when further Sonam goes on to showcase many first-time scenes in her film (both visually and verbally) along with a well chosen cast & team, then the project certainly becomes even more important from that angel without any doubts.
For instance, in the past when have you seen young girls talking about their physical developments on the screen in clear words or when there has been a screen mother assisting her daughter in buying her new undergarments, which she now needs for the first time in her young years. On top of all when have we seen an adorable divorced mother, attending her ex-husband’s second (love) marriage ceremony along with her grown up daughter & son? Frankly that surely needs to be considered as a healthy sign of meaningful growth in our Hindi cinema undoubtedly and for this both Karan Johar (Producer) and Sonam Nair deserve their own individual praises, for sure.
Incidentally, I did witness some weird restlessness in a certain section of viewers about this verbal & visual depiction of the realistic facts of adolescence both before (in its promos) and after the release of the film on a personal level. So as an answer to that particular section of viewers who still consider it to be on the ‘vulgar side’, I wish to say that VULGAR is when you enjoy or dance on a song like “Laila Teri Le Legi, Tu Likh Ke Le Le”, but it is not VULGAR when a mother is teaching her daughter how to dress differently dealing with her new body changes in the teenage years. VULGAR is when you enjoy watching a whole bunch of drunk men touching an item girl at different places with lustful eyes but its not VULGAR when a strong, single mother is quietly teaching the basic precautions of life to her growing daughter in some clear words. In fact, here in India, the reason that we can even think of calling these essential lessons of life as VULGAR, remains in the fact that we have either nothing or just bare minimum being taught in the name of “Sex –Education” in our schools. Due to which, the only teachers, the kids are left with, are either their parents or some avoidable cheap literature & much explicit porn-sites at the internet. To be straight, if even the parents are not educated and understanding enough to make them aware and help in those crucial days, then we are sure going to raise many suppressed adults with all wrong notions in their minds about various aspects of life and the future is not going to be great with that kind of upbringing, for sure.
Hence, from that viewpoint, GIPPY is an important film which at least draws your attention towards this extremely important phase in our child’s growth, to be dealt with utmost care, patience and love. But at the same time, GIPPY is not a big classic film too, since it tackles (or just touches) all those issues on a very lighter note and remains entertaining throughout, well supported by some good performances and catchy music. In its 97 minutes of short duration, the proceedings never get sloppy (both before & after the intermission) and its script keeps providing you the enjoyable, exciting moments right till the climax. To put it differently, Sonam could have turned it into a great classy masterpiece with many more emotional and meaningful scenes roped in to give it an off-beat feel. But she, along with her producer Karan Johar consciously stays away from that “artistic path” completely and never tends to go too emotional or heavy, targeting the casual tastes of the present generation.
Honestly it’s a Girls movie all the way, which is “by the Girls, about the Girls & for the Girls”. So, all the women & girls out there are sure going to have a great time watching it together (preferably in groups). Further it also takes you on to an emotional tour exploring the mother-daughter relationship in a splendid way, which indeed has been portrayed with great guts, conviction and respect, all together. The loving relationship gets a new meaning through a worth praising performance by Divya Dutta, playing the single mother taking good care of her growing kids and the film becomes a must watch just for her.The merits of GIPPI also include its catchy soundtrack (by Vishal-Shekhar) which has some youthful dance numbers such as “Baby Doll”, “Pehn Di Takki” & “We are Like This Only” along with a melodious, well written track “Mann Baavra”. Background Music keeps the tempo going and so does its cinematography capturing the hilly locations & school sequences competently.
In the performance section, Riya as Gurpreet Kaur or Gippy plays her part quite impressively & effortlessly. Though at times she seems to be too casual in her approach but that in turn becomes a part of her onscreen character as the film progresses. Arbaz as her younger brother and Doorva Tripathi as her best friend are truly natural and a delight to watch. Jayati Modi delivers what was required from her as the teasing girl. Mrinal Chawla and Aditya Deshpande are just fine but Taaha Shah acts well. In the grown-ups, as said earlier Divya Dutt gives one of her career best performances and Pankaj Dheer is good but Raqesh Vashisht hasn’t got much to do in it.
As a film, GIPPI made me feel good and it made me feel hopeful too about the future of Hindi Cinema, since we do have thoughtful minds here who can think out of the box with the changing times. The film has been made straight from the heart, has got a sweet warmth in it and a vision too pointing towards the way kids need to be treated equally. However it also made me think that probably Bollywood is really finding it hard to make anything without the reference of Punjab or Punjabi characters in it from the last few years.
In all GIPPI is a like a fresh breeze in the mess of all stereo-typed films. It breaks the traditional shell of our society convincingly and after a long long time, Hindi Cinema gives us a worth watching film on school life, girls and adolescence. Actually such attempts need to be appreciated for our own sake and the film deserves to be seen just for Gurpreet Kaur and her mother alone.
Rating : 3.5 / 5
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