While watching the romantics, I managed to watch about half of it. Kajol says she could not relate to Simran as a character. She was far too obedient and docile. While it is true. And the reality is Simran probably did not age well. Thirty years later, women like that no longer exist.
But if we think about it. The film was also about first-generation NRIs. I hear stories of what my mom and aunts were like back then. They describe themselves as very similar to Simran. My aunts are like you girls are so lucky we were not even allowed to talk as openly as you guys in front of our father. They did live in fear of their father. They knew from a very young age they would get an arranged marriage. They weren't allowed to be seen with a boy. The fact that Simran's father allowed her to go on a holiday with her friends was perhaps a little unrealistic and maybe too modern for that time.
The second generation of NRI children have come a long way from the Simran type of characters. As I said, no women exist like that today. No girl of today can probably relate to a Simran. But it was not that the film did not acknowledge that the culture towards women was wrong at the time. You know the conversation Simran's mom has with her. About how she grew up. About how her studies were stopped for her brother's sake? They knew the culture at the time was not right. But they were showcasing a reality for the most part.
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