Guillermo Del Toro once said ‘The most tyrannical thing we invented is nice, the tyranny of nice chokes me. I think we are all complex people; we are all paradoxical people. 9 am You are a saint, 9:30 you are a ****, 10:30 you are a great father,11:45 you are a bad son and that’s you, you should be or can be every color in the rainbow, you should not be black or white and I think the monster is that imperfection is beautiful. I make the voice of the monsters in Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim, and I completely identify with them.’
In Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly, there is no Hero or villain, but each character has the composition of both in a subjectively complex way. All the characters organically contradict themselves in the impulse of human emotions like envy, greed, lust, and pride. Even the instinct of protecting an innocent soul cannot win over the selfishness of every corrupted adult in the film. Kashyap’s eclectic thriller explores the depth of human integrity, where intangible emotions and characteristics cannot be quantified to certify anyone as a saint or evil. Circumstances, life experiences, desires, impulses, and inner convictions direct people to change their mindset in minutes or be stubborn for change.
The dichotomy of human character
Ugly reveals the labyrinthian side of humans, which is beyond good or evil. The characters are saints in some circumstances and selfish in others. Shoumik Bose is a stubborn patriarchal husband who controls his wife through money. He later turns out to be a psychopath for taking revenge on Shalini for rejecting her in college by marrying her, only to keep her in captivity. But Shoumik turns out to be the only person to care about his stepdaughter Kali till the last. Shalini and Rahul were terrible parents, but their protective instincts towards their daughter arise when she goes missing.
Shalini was suicidal due to her second failed and unhappy marriage. Thus, she does not properly look after Devi due to her depression. Devi’s father Rahul is still a struggling actor and an immature adult to give proper attention to her. Both are incompetent but not abusive as parents, which is the bare minimum. Rahul’s best friend Chaitanya seems to be a true and supportive person initially but gets corrupted for money. He pretends to be a gangster and asks for ransom. The same cycle gets continued by Rahul’s girlfriend and Shalini’s brother to extort money. They all get money and try to leave the city to start a new life. Some succeed and some fail, including Rahul himself.
The six deadly sins
Anurag Kashyap’s characters swing on the edge of morality as they ignorantly commit the sins of greed, envy, wrath, lust, pride, and sloth. Rahul’s friend Chaitanya is Shalini’s brother, and in the end, Rahul prioritizes money and his jealousy of Shoumik over the search for his daughter. Shoumik’s humiliation in college transforms into wrath and pride in his adulthood. His anger directs him to penalize Shalini for rejecting him for Rahul. The daughter suffers neglect from the plight of her dysfunctional family. There is a sense of hopelessness in Ugly, where no one comes as a knight in armor to rescue the little kid and earn laurels from the audience.
Those who search for the kid neither have honest motives similar to real life. Lust and adultery get hidden behind the curtains as no one apart from the committers ever comes to know about the transgression. Kashyap signifies that humans are the existent evil who have turned the heaven-like earth into hell. They have made a system where the suffering never ends. There is no karma as the vicious adults escape with the money to start a new life, but innocent souls pay the price.
Masculinity
Rahul and Shoumik represent two types of masculinity. Rahul represents modern masculinity, who has chosen an unquantifiable career that is dependent on luck, destiny, and subjectivity. It does not guarantee certainty, stability, and success to support a family. When the position of the patriarch is questioned to gather resources, he starts searching for another companion who can offer her financial stability. Here, financial stability is not linked to the emotional and mental stability of Shalini. Shoumik represents traditional masculinity, who has chosen a quantifiable career that is dependent on hard work, consistency, and objectivity.
It does guarantee to support a livelihood. The patriarch Shoumik uses the power of his position to take revenge on Shalini and Rahul. Although Shoumik’s behavior is not revealed to be of a regular person as he sticks to his insecurities and frustrations for too long. Although money plays a bigger role than directing the financial condition of Rahul and Shoumik, Shalini continues to face the atrocities in both households, which ultimately sulks her to depression.
Dysfunctional Family in reference to ‘Amorres Perros’ and ‘Titli’
In Ugly, Kali’s fate has not been good since her birth. Kashyap released a short film on Youtube for the origin story of how Kali was born. Kanu Behl’s Titli (2015) and Alejandro Gonzalez’s Amores Perros (2000) deal with the tragedy of growing up and living in dysfunctional families due to poverty. These households are often home to frequent fights, gaslighting, and arguments, which can affect a person mentally. Shalini and Rahul often quarrel over food and other necessities after marriage.
However, marrying Shoumik didn’t do any good to Shalini either, as her expenses were limited and her going outside was not permitted, which is necessary for anyone’s welfare. All this failure in marriage forced Shalini to attempt suicide. She could barely focus on Kali due to her anguish. Neither of the parents was attentive to the daughter even after their separation. In Titli and Amores Perros, the central character lies in the lower middle class, who are tired of their dreadful profession and dream of escaping to start a new life with their lovers. These characters didn’t have many responsibilities, unlike Rahul, who eloped with the ransom money of his daughter’s kidnapper.
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Ugly
Pros
- Brilliant message
- Extraordinary Cast
- Outstanding peformances
Cons
- Some scenes stretched too much
