Amongst everything else, Serious men is a serious take on parenting. Here's Why!

Not very often do we come across a mainstream Bollywood film which is a well meaning social satire but in doing so, also highlights the cracks and crevices existing within the four walls of human households, which comprise the fundamental building blocks of the society. An ingenious  commentary on hierarchies of caste and class alongside perils of economic and intellectual inadequacies, Serious Men the film inspired from the highly acclaimed book of the same name by Manu Joseph, at its core is a father-son relationship. 

For the lack of predisposed formulas without a hit: flop ratio, parenting is a difficult territory to navigate, a problem more advertantly manifested in the quotidian lives of lower middle class households where children are an accessory for an upward mobility. When Nawaz playing Ayyan Mani deploys his son as a tool for channelling his personal ambitions, he believes that he is doing his child a favour, notwithstanding the unforeseeable collateral damage. Even within his household he formulates an invisible hierarchy where his less educated wife remains oblivious to the exploits of the father-son duo. The situation bears resemblance to countless households where the father, who is the “head” of the family holds a greater degree of prominence in his child’s life as he stands higher on the intellectual pedestal. 

The film also demonstrates the consequences of the mother’s alienation on the emotional well being of the child. When education and intellect form the basis for ousting either parent from active engagement of their child’s life academically and otherwise it jeopardizes their wholesome upbringing. Especially if the parent who is thrusted to the margin is the mother, a species universally acknowledged to have a higher emotional prowess, the  psychological well being of the child is adversely impacted, an idea well brought out through the narrative of Serious Men.

One of the scenes in the film has the mother pouring water over her head trying to come to terms with alarming visuals manifesting the disarray of her child’s mental state. Even in that moment, she is reacting to the situation rather than introspecting the circumstances leading to the outcomes, purely for her lack of sheer self awareness and self worth.  There’s certainly a redeeming arc in the climax of the film for the mother who assumes more authority as the family migrates to what appears to be a state in South India, which is known for its matriarchal and matrilineal society but that is more a demand of circumstances than a desire for active engagement. Serious Men, explicitly showcases the problematic connotations of a patriarchal, non-inclusive household snowballing its impact on the overall upbringing of a child. Even as the street-smart parent who knows his ways around the world watches his child collapse under burden of his unfulfilled ambitions, it brings both out his vulnerability and turbulence in character.

The narrative also plays host to a parellel father-daughter story ,where despite making sense of the world through enduring her share of trauma, the daughter’s  agency ultimately draws from the will of her father.  This only furthers the proposition that the parents' impulse to administer control of their child, transgresses boundaries of class, culture and economic conditions.

While there are no marked contours of right or wrong in the world of parenting, the boundaries are blurred with what counts as indulgence, Serious Men without raising those questions answers them. In the words of Frederick Douglass, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”.