Like A Boss

Bollywood is my go to example for it being okay to enjoy problematic things, as long as you keep an eye on why they're problematic. It's a big industry, so examples vary, but gender issues in particular are often glaring. I could write a paper. I'm sure many people have written papers, and they need to write more, since the examples are so numerous.

All of which is a long winded way of saying that I also re-watched Yes Boss. The other movies I've talked about so far both mix their genres; One 2 Ka 4 is Bollywood romance meets John Woo action flick, and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani is Bollywood romance meets political thriller. Yes Boss, on the other hand, just doubles up on the frothy romance, focusing intently on one love triangle which isn't resolved until the very end of the film. It's all pretty standard stuff, except much more nuanced and layered and I'm honestly not sure how I'm supposed to feel about it.

Aditya Pancholi plays Siddharth, a wealthy (but married) playboy who uses his advertising agency mostly as an excuse to meet models. Juhi Chawla plays Seema, a middle class aspiring model with no money but big dreams, and Shah Rukh Khan plays Rahul, Siddharth's smooth talking personal assistant who alternates between helping his boss juggle his assorted mistresses and placate his wife, and caring for his own mother, who has a serious but unnamed heart condition. Rahul meets Seema, sparks fly, but they're both focused on their respective careers, and as Seema says, "Two unsuccessful people can never build a successful life." So that's that. Until Siddharth meets Seema, decides she's the girl he wants, and orders Rahul to use his usual bag of tricks to make that happen.

So. Boy met girl, boy lost girl, creepy millionaire decides he wants girl, and nice-but-ambitious boy helps him. Siddharth is manipulative as hell, staging a workplace confrontation so that he can be the sensitive boss who respects women and traditional Indian values, and it works! Seema's his girlfriend now! His wife catches him out shopping with Seema, so he lies and says that Seema is married to Rahul, thereby forcing the two nice young people into each other's company with a shared secret, at first to protect the boss, and then to protect Rahul's mother, who has returned from her pilgrimage and has a heart condition that could KILL HER if she gets any nasty surprises. It's all textbook romcom stuff.

The problem is that Siddharth is an utter monster who looms over the happy romcom proceedings like Dracula's taller brother. Take this peppy little musical number:

 

Fun, right? Siddharth has drugged Seema, and Rahul is desperately scrambling to get her home safely. That's probably the film's biggest bit of tonal weirdness, but that tension is always there, even in the happiest moments.

Now, that's not a bad thing; I like a bit of complexity in my schmaltzy romance. But it does raise questions about our hero. On the one hand, the film is very clear that Rahul doesn't know about the shadier stuff Siddharth has been doing, Siddharth is manipulating him at least as much as everybody else, if not more (and even has a scene to gloat about that fact), and Rahul does experience genuine remorse and undergoes a great deal of moral growth. On the other hand, while Siddharth's previous relationships were consensual (as far as we know), they were still based on a potent stew of power imbalance and lies, and Rahul was complicit as hell. I dunno.

At the very least, the movie has its heart in the right place. At the end, our hero rushes to confront the villain because it's the right thing to do, not because he expects to get the girl. (Of course he gets the girl, but he's not expecting it.) And Mom does not die, instead directly telling the audience that it's not Seema's fault she was lied to and manipulated, so don't be a sexist jerk.