Romance comes in all sizes

                                           

Recently released Telegu film Size Zero ventures into Dum Laga ke Haisha territory.

It’s rare for a Telugu film to have a woman as its central character. A plus-sized leading lady? Unheard of. Written by Kanika Dhillon and directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, Size Zero stars Anushka Shetty, who ballooned up to play the overweight protagonist, Sweety.

Anushka is the only contemporary actress from Tamil and Telugu films to have done titular, heroine-centric roles, with Arundhati (a fantasy flick) and Rudhramadevi (a historical). And when Size Zero was announced, one wondered if it would bear any resemblance to the heart-warming Dum Laga ke Haisha.

Focus on weighty issues

Both films are backed by teams with strong marketing muscle and focus on weighty issues. But the similarities end there.

In Dum…, the world inhabited by Prem (Ayushmann Khurrana) and Sandhya (Bhumi Pednekar) is set in the audio cassette era (1995 to be more precise). Strains of Kumar Sanu’s rendition and Anu Mallik’s music add to the flavour of the mid ’90s.

Size Zero is set in contemporary times with tropes of a romantic comedy: freeze frame moments to express Sweety’s emotions and fortune cookies to take the story forward.

Sweety loves her food and is unapologetic about indulging in laddus, jalebis and chocolates. “Happy girls are the most beautiful,” her father tells her as a child.

The chubby girl grows up much taunted. Sometime in high school, the term ‘fatty’ replaces Sweety. She remains undeterred.

When she is of marriageable age and her father is no more, her mother’s only worry is to find her a groom.

Kovelamudi’s film narrates the plight of Sweety from the point of view of a middle class family helmed by a single mother who sells ‘Dubbaware’. Sandhya is armed with a B.Ed and has an edge over Prem, who hasn’t cleared his 10 standard examinations.

Sweety works at a Chinese restaurant and finds happiness is presenting fortune cookies with messages that ease tense moments in the lives of the restaurant’s patrons. That’s her social service, she tells Abhi (Aarya), a documentary filmmaker harping on social awareness. He is a fitness freak to boot.

Dum’s Sandhya, who instantly likes Prem, is similar to Sweety warming up to Abhi when he first meets her as a prospective groom. He has filmmaking on his mind and doesn’t know how to wriggle out of this marriage proposal. She puts him at ease and offers to decline the proposal.

While Sandhya explores the bazaars of Haridwar to buy satin lingerie, Sweety drives around town with Aarya as a pillion rider. Sweety carries off her weight with ease. There’s a delightful scene where she offers keema samosas and Abhil recoils, citing carbs. “These are not carbs, these are delicious keema samosas,” she chides him.

The threat to their growing bond comes in the form of a fit Simran (Sonal Chauhan). Sweety joins a slimming clinic called Size Zero. While Dum Laga ke Haisha kept its focus on relationships, Size Zero, midway through its narrative launches a battle against slimming clinics that use illicit drugs. Dum left its audience with a wide grin when Prem completes the race with Sandhya on his back and still keeps running, while Size Zero (released as Inji Iduppazhagi in Tamil) is being appreciated as a daring attempt.

Size Zero had the potential to be a landmark film, if handled more deftly. Yet, it’s a hefty start.