From Baghban to Piku

The Indian society carries a lot of complex ideas about aging and aged people that also get affected by the increasing appeal of modern values and culture. The older and the younger generations in India, both brought up in very different sociocultural environments, often find their interests conflicting. This paper is an attempt to understand how aged people are portrayed and how their concerns are discussed in Indian cinema. It does so through a comparison of two mainstream and successful Bollywood films that otherwise seem distant and disconnected but are connected in the social concern they revolve around, that is of ageing parents in need of care. Baghban and Piku together tell a story of shift of the public discourse and perception of old age in India in the last two decades.

The next section is a literature review that outlines what aging as a phenomenon is for those experiencing it. It points out the importance of cultural and social context in setting the role expectations and perspectives on aging. The review then gives some specifics of India and explains how Indian society considers family as the prime source of caregiving. It then gives an overview of the portrayal of aging narratives in media and Indian cinema. The next section is a qualitative comparison, a parallel interpretation, and a critical analysis of the two films, Baghban and Piku. The article ends with a brief discussion of the two films and their take on aging. This study of the portrayal of aging in contemporary Indian cinema helps to understand the underlying attitudes, biases, and stereotypes on the subject that also exist in the Indian society.

Literature Review

The phenomenon of aging

Aging is usually accompanied with some major challenges such as physical deterioration and in some cases, disability. Without enough support and facilities, these factors can affect the aging person’s self-confidence, mobility, and independence (Frye). Lack of “good health and physical functioning” also affects the quality of life of aged people (Walker and Hennessy 19). Owing to the changes in their physical health and capabilities, some material factors become important to the quality of life of aged people, for example, financial security, availability of healthcare, and quality of neighbourhood in terms of safety, recreation, and transportation (Walker and Hennessy).

Another major factor affecting the well-being of aged people is the status of their psychological or emotional satisfaction and happiness (Walker and Hennessy). Fischer et al. argue based on their study of people aged eighty-five years, “to grow old is also to mature and gain in wisdom” (260). Aging not just involves physical changes but is also a deeply contemplative process in which the aging person actively engages to make sense of her/his changing conditions. Fischer et al. go on to conclude that aging is “maintaining one’s identity in spite of the changes that come with aging and embracing opposites — being changed, and feeling being the same” (266). As the famous poet John McKernan writes, “I like growing old.”

Also, the experience of aging depends a lot on social support. Aged people value “engaging in a large number of social activities and feeling supported” (Walker and Hennessy 19). While the extent of desired social integration of aged people may change from society to society, it is mostly considered to be a positive aspect for their well-being (de Jong Gierveld and Hagestad). Therefore, the roles of family, friends, and neighbours become very important for the well-being of aged people (Walker and Hennessy). Family is reported to be the most important of all by aged people according to the study of Walker and Hennessy (19–22).

On the other hand, the relationship of adult children and their aged parents may not be always good. Willson et al. explain in detail the presence of such ambivalence, that is, the “aspects of relationships that are simultaneously positive and negative” (1055). They find that it is common of caregiving children to have some level of ambivalence towards their aged parents. Factors such as gender and prior unpleasant experiences influence children’s feelings to the parents. The adult children also struggle between their roles as child and as caregiver and are constantly searching for a balance between “autonomy and paternalism” they can offer to their aged parents (Gill and Morgan 715).

Similarly, aged parents can also have ambivalent feelings towards their children. Some of the things bothering aged parents include children’s lack of time for the parents, and their “boundaries around communication” when it comes to personal topics like “romantic partners” or “parenting styles” (Peters et al. 549). Spitze and Gallant find that in order to cope with ambivalence with their adult children, aged parents frequently adopt different strategies like “avoidance,” “rationalization,” “acceptance,” and, also, sometimes “confrontation” as the last resort.

Aging in India

The differences in cultural values from society to society also influence the expectations of aged people from their social relationships (Johnson and Mullins). The aged people in societies having more collective values may require higher level of social bonding and relationships than those in societies having more individualistic values (Johnson and Mullins 257). India is one such society that values collectivism and, particularly, familial relationships (Sinha et al.). As Lamb points out, there is reciprocity in parents and children relationship in the Indian society: “Just as children are naturally and appropriately dependent on their parents when young, so are parents naturally and appropriately dependent on their children when old” (20). Children are considered “a great source of support to parents during their incapacitation” (Datta 151). The relationship of aging parents and their children in India also has social significance. Providing care to aged parents adds to the prestige of adult children in the Indian society (Datta).

These role expectations often further complicate the relationship of aged parents and adult children in the Indian society. As seen in case of the films Baghban and Piku discussed ahead, their narratives touch upon many connected questions like those concerning traditions, modernity, gender, social security, healthcare, and caregiving. While there are no obvious answers to these questions, the comparison of Baghban and Piku made here helps to better understand some of these concerns and the conflicting perspectives of aged parents and their adult children.

Social construction of aging and Hindi cinema

Researchers find that the stereotypes of elderly people are pervasive in all cultures, individualistic or collective (Cuddy et al.). Even when it comes to academic literature, some gerontologists argue that most of the discussion on the subject adopts a “narrative of ‘decline’” (Gullette as cited in Randall and McKim 4), portraying aging as a one-way path to “sickness unto death” (Kierkegaard as cited in Randall and McKim 4). The practice of “both discrimination and prejudice against people who are old” is called “ageism” (Chatterjee et al. 16). On the other hand, Phoenix et al. suggest that some narratives also attempt to challenge the existing stereotypes, “operating as counter-narratives.” Cinema, while narrating the stories of its times, also reflects the current social practices, discourses, debates, stereotypes, as well as their counter-narratives. The popular films of a society are its mirror, and their close reading helps understand the society’s character. A close reading of Indian cinema talking about aged parents and adult children relationship will help grasp some of the current concerns, debates, and conflicts on the subject in India.

In India, although many of the popular mass-appealing Hindi Bollywood films have aged people portrayed, they are mostly to support the stories focused on young leading characters. Very few of the films talk about the problems of aged parents, their caregiving adult children, and the relationships between the two. Some Bollywood films that came between 2001 and 2018 and directly address the subject include Baghban, Umar, Life In A Metro, Bhoothnath, Mere Baap Pehle Aap, Shirin Farhad Ki To Nikal Padi, Piku, All is Well, and 102 Not Out. From these, Baghban, Umar, Life In A Metro, Piku, and 102 Not Out address the issue of aging in a serious manner while others emphasise only the comic aspect. Most popular of these are Baghban and Piku, both tremendously successful at the box office.

Lamb found that many of her study participants, “of diverse ages and circumstances, viewed the film Baghban and declared it to be highly moving, truthful, and compelling” (44). Piku, on the other hand, became so popular that some parents in India are reported to have started naming their daughters Piku, after the female lead in the film (Express Web Desk). Both films speak to the relationship of aged parents and adult children, but from different perspectives. While Baghban is from the perspective of aged parents, Piku narrates the experiences of a caregiving daughter. Because of the success and appeal of these two films to the masses and a span of about a decade between them, they provide an apt opportunity for comparison and study of how the discourse on aged parents in Hindi cinema has altered from 2003 to 2015. Also, symbolically the two are connected in Amitabh Bachchan playing the role of old father in both the films.

Interpreting and Comparing Baghban and Piku

Storylines and characters

Baghban is a story of a father, his beloved wife, his four sons who do not want to support their aged parents. It is a story of struggle and suffering, economic and mostly emotional, of the parents who invested everything to bring up their children but, in turn, are left unsupported when they need their children. Unlike western societies, children in India live with their parents even after growing up, especially sons, who are seen as heirs to family property as well as to the responsibility of providing care to aged parents. However, like in Baghban, there are many cases in which parents-children relations get tensed and parents choose to, or often, are left to live by themselves. Baghban is the story of disappointment of such parents who ultimately decide to live separately.

Piku is a story of a daughter responsible for her old and widowed father needing constant care and attention. It is a story of the daughter’s struggle with her obligation and commitment to her father who is emotionally and psychologically dependent on her. With the portrayal of a daughter as capable of providing care to her old father, it is a shift away from the emphasis on sons that Indian society, and even Baghban, places in context of providing for aged parents. Sex selection for male child and skewed sex ratio of Indian population is partly influenced by such bias towards son. Piku is an argument that an educated and self-dependent daughter can head a family and assume the role and responsibilities associated. Piku, the daughter, performs her role dutifully till the very end and demise of her father.

The hero in Baghban is the father, Raj Malhotra, who is appreciated for his smartness and potential at his work, and is loved and respected by his wife and friends. Still young at heart, Raj has a healthy lifestyle and two dogs he cares for. The hero in Piku is the daughter Piku who is bold, assertive, working, independent, single woman and also looks after the household where her father needs her constant attention. She can speak her mind and is valued for her work by her boss. Unlike most young women in India, Piku can openly date a guy when she wants and have a physical relationship. Both Piku and Raj are the best of what they can be.

In addition, both the films also clearly establish the values and beliefs of these heroes. In Baghban, Raj cherishes his family, friends, and togetherness and prefers them over building his career and wealth. He is emotional, driven by love and affection. On the other hand, Piku thinks her father unnecessarily frets over his constipation and she does not see anything good in growing old like him. She tells her father, “I don’t want to get to your age, you have problems everywhere in your body, imaginary.” Piku thinks he is “hypochondriac” and questions him: “Is this how I am going to live my life, discussing your shit?” She is keen to have a romantic relationship and holds her father responsible for her inability to have it. Raj and Piku both represent their generations well; Raj as an old father values traditional family relations and Piku as a young daughter finds such relations binding and is eager for independence.

Both the stories involve life-changing twists for the old parents. In Baghban, as Raj retires from his job, his wife Pooja insists on living with their children. However, the sons and their wives feel disappointed as they were expecting monetary gifts instead. The children decide to keep Raj and Pooja separately, first six months with two sons and next six months with the other two sons, thus sharing the responsibility of care evenly. This separation is agonising for Raj and Pooja and is the key theme of the entire film, underscored by a gloomy music.

In Piku, the father collapses after partying one night and is found unconscious in the morning. This is the turning point in their story as it hits both Piku and her father that he could have died. This is another major setback to Piku who is already overwhelmed with her responsibilities at work and home, her stress accentuated by her loneliness. The film starts and ends with a classical music which establishes the centrality of the father’s death in the storyline. At different occasions in the film, the discussion refers to his death directly or indirectly and eventually he dies at the end of the film.

Both the stories involve the beginning of journeys of the leading characters into uncertainty. With heavy hearts, Raj and Pooja pack their bags and leave their home of forty years to separate and go to live with different sons. They are not looking forward to the coming time, but backwards, at each other, at what they are leaving behind. In the other story, Piku’s father insists on visiting their ancestral home in Kolkata as he fears dying without being able to see it for one last time. Piku, her father, and their domestic help leave for a road trip to Kolkata with a taxi service owner, Rana.

Both the journeys end after transforming the lives of the lead characters. In Baghban, Raj and Pooja decide to go back to their previous home and live without their children. The journey that they thought would end at their sons’ homes continued as they were unwelcomed there. It ended only after they came back to the same house they started from. In Piku, as the journey ends, Piku and Rana develop feelings for each other. However, Rana wants Piku, but not along with her aged father. He almost backs out as he leaves without taking this further. Before Piku can fully get over Rana, her father passes away. Piku’s journey ends with her loss of the most important man in her life, her father, and the entry of a new man in her life, Rana. Rana comes back to her. In the last scene of the film, Piku and Rana are playing badminton in front of her house.

On aged parents

The parents’ perspective, on their children’s role as caregivers towards the end of their lives, continues to be the same in India in the span of 12 years from Baghban in 2003 to Piku in 2015. Raj questions in his speech in Baghban why children cannot take care of their parents towards their end of life the way parents take care of children in their beginning of life. In his view, parents raise children with a hope of support from them during old age. The voiceover in the beginning of Baghban makes this point clear – a gardener tends to his garden hoping for shade when he gets tired of life. In Piku as well, during a meal with guests, the father tells Piku to take care of him like he took care of her during her childhood. He thinks Piku is indebted and bound by duty to take care of him in his old age. The father’s friends also support him in this argument.

Similarly, adult children also continue to dislike the role of caregiving to old parents from Baghban to Piku. Both the two films portray old parents as nuisance for their children. But while this attitude is shown superficially and in bad light in Baghban, Piku exhibits a much more accommodating understanding for caregiving children. Piku first stopping her father from having alcohol and then giving up as he insists shows her struggle to balance between autonomy and paternalism towards her father, as discussed earlier (Gill and Morgan 715). Piku also demonstrates how the dual burden of responsibility at home and at work overwhelms the caregiver. In Baghban, Raj’s son’s refusal to get Raj’s broken eyeglasses repaired is found unjustified by the grandson. But Piku’s refusal to take the taxi back to look for her father’s hearing-aid batteries is found justified by Rana. Piku’s aunt and friends support her when her father doesn’t let her date or have a vacation. She seems to be single because of her demanding father’s presence in her life. The film portrays her situation in a very sensitive and empathetic manner.

However, to the other young characters portrayed, the idea of adult children being caregivers to old parents becomes much more alien and abnormal in Piku than in Baghban. Apart from Raj’s sons and daughters-in-law, no other young character in Baghban finds the idea of supporting parents in old age as abnormal or unwanted. However, in Piku, children looking after their old parents comes across as a huge favor to them. Being Piku is not normal, it is exceptional, as Rana tells her. She is an exception that people her age clearly find abnormal and unwanted. The consistent reaction of shock by Piku’s friends on knowing about her father’s constipation and the embarrassment that Piku has to go through every time this happens underscores the abnormality of the situation. Piku’s friends find her obligation to her father a reason big enough to not socialise with her much. She does not have any female friend to talk to when she feels lonely. Despite her success and beauty, she is not a desired woman to men. Only because of her obligation to her father, Piku becomes someone men avoid dating. Rana also refuses to marry her until she looks after her father whom he sees as a nuisance.

Additionally, the emotional needs of old parents that Baghban tries hard to bring attention to, are treated as unreasonable and unworthy of attention in Piku. The seriousness of the subject is gone in Piku and in fact the problems of old age become objects of laughter. Having problems that youth is not usually bothered about, such as constipation, is equated with being senile. Not just her friends, Piku also believes that her father is paying unreasonable attention to his “imaginary” health condition. While her father wants to talk to her about his health, Piku leaves for office without turning back. When the father gets a health checkup done as he believes that he has some health issue that needs attention, Piku dismisses his concerns and finds the health checkup unnecessary. He gets no emotional support, understanding, or empathy from his daughter while he is seriously concerned about his health for most part of the film.

There is no normalcy with parents and children in the same house in either of the films. But while the parent-child conflict about caregiving continues to be similar from Baghban to Piku, the solution to this conflict changes. Baghban ends with parents deciding to live separate from their children while Piku ends with the father dying and only then the daughter being able to live peacefully. Piku tells Rana that “after a certain age, parents cannot stay alive on their own, they need to be kept alive.” The storyline in Piku adopts what was described earlier as a “narrative of decline.” The father does not get better or recovers from his health problems, only death frees him from his woes. Also, death of the parent was the only solution to Piku’s troubled life. Until her father was alive, she could not drive, hire a domestic help, have a boyfriend, or marry. While quitting job, her domestic maid said she would come back for work only when the father was not around. The maid returns to work in the end after the father has died and Piku hires her again. The “solution” to her house that Piku was looking for is found only after the father dies. She says nobody will bother her now that her father is gone.

Death of an aged parent is portrayed unconventionally in Piku. Her father tells Piku that death is not such a negative thing. While initially he used to worry over small health problems, by the end he becomes carefree and thinks precautions are of no use. Standing at the centre of his ancestral home in Kolkata, the father says that it is the centre of his “circumference.” After being sure that Piku will not sell this house when he is gone, the father is ready to go. He overexerts himself knowing well that his body could not take it. He wanted to stay away from incisive medical treatment during his last moments, and he dies without having to go through it. The father’s death is shown to be a painless and peaceful one. Also, Piku is not very sad and sorry about the way her father dies. She is glad that her father did not have to go through the medical treatments he disliked. She says, “he made sure death also listened to him.”

On patriarchy and gender

The discourse on aged parents and their care is a lot more connected with patriarchal and gendered values in India than it is in western societies. To a great extent, the patriarchal hierarchy which was celebrated in Baghban is gone in Piku. Mostly the camera is tilted up when Raj is in frame and it is tilted down when other characters in Baghban are in the frame. As against it, the camera does not give in to hierarchies in relationships in Piku. The daughter and the father speak from same level, the hierarchy is flattened. Piku often loses her temper or makes fun of her father’s obsession with health even though the father obviously does not like it. She could freely speak her mind to her father. On the other hand, Raj’s son is hesitant to talk to him and instead chooses to talk to the mother, Pooja, when he needs money. Another son tells Pooja that Raj’s discipline and control of his family was suffocating for him. She tried to convince her son to have similar control over his wife and daughter.

In India, daughters are not seen by parents as potential caregivers in old age as they become part of other families after their marriages. Hindu religion prohibits girls’ parents to have food, water, or shelter at daughters’ houses after she is married. Therefore, married daughter is not seen as a potential caregiver for her parents. Instead, she is a potential caregiver for some other people — as a daughter-in-law to her parents-in-law. Baghban, therefore, only has daughters-in-law and does not even care to include a daughter of Raj and Pooja. Piku challenges this perspective and is willing to visualise a daughter as a potential caregiver.

Although the patriarchal control over Piku’s life is less but it is not absent. Important decisions in Piku’s life continue to be taken by her father. She does not get to drive or enjoy a vacation even if she wants to. The father also ensures that Piku remains unmarried by disturbing her every time she tries to have a conversation with any man she likes. This old father holds on to his caregiving daughter by using his social hierarchy and authority over her. Piku’s father is portrayed as a “selfish man” like Rana finds him and Piku agrees. Piku, the daughter, can be educated and working. She can even date guys and have sex. But she cannot marry anyone and move out of the house of her father, which becomes the source of her depression. It seems that he does not believe Piku would be able to provide him care after marrying. A woman can still not have it all. The film highlights this and questions it well.

Discussion

Talking from the perspective of gerontology, while Baghban was a decent attempt to address different aspects of old age and the related issues, Piku failed to be sensitive to these issues. Baghban portrayed both emotional as well as financial needs and contribution of the parents, and, also, their ability to live independent of unwelcoming and unloving children. Baghban is a statement that children are not the only option for old people; social support and happiness can be acquired otherwise as well. On the other hand, Piku easily resorts to the narrative of decline and sees no other solution to Piku’s misery than the death of her dependent father. The film also treats the emotional needs of the old father as unimportant and does not highlight his financial and psychological support to his daughter. Many of the elderly population, in India and elsewhere, support their caregiving children financially or otherwise. However, Piku gives an impression of aged parents to be a burden, an obligation, without whom the life of their children will be better off.

Additionally, neither of the films maintained a balance between parents’ and children’s viewpoints to illustrate the ambivalence discussed earlier. While Baghban portrayed the children to be selfish, Piku portrayed the father to be selfish. In Baghban, the children’s behaviour to their parents changes when they realised that they are not getting much as inheritance. On the other hand, Piku’s father starts interfering more once he sees her coming close to any guy. Both the films portray tremendous sensitivity but only for one side of the parent-child relationship. For the other side, they portray extreme mean behaviour, probably for dramatic effects, but creating stereotypes in the process. In that, both the films fail to capture the complexities of the relationship between aged parents and caregiving children.

Most importantly, this paper aims to bring attention to how the discourse of old age and caregiving to aged parents changed from 2003 to 2015 in Hindi cinema. The discourse on the topic that was demanding an absolute respect for hierarchy and for senior people in Baghban has now shifted towards the idea of equality between old parents and their adult children in Piku. The sharp camera angles used in Baghban to establish authority are missing in Piku. The straight camera frames in Piku underscore the equality between the father and the daughter. The children who do not want to be caregivers to their old parents have nobody supporting them in Baghban, but Piku has many people supporting her when she questioned or opposed her father. The new generation in India would not give in to the absolute authority and patriarchy of former generations; they would ask critical questions. And they would also question their obligation to be caregivers to their aging parents. The two films narrate the story of this changing relationship of parents and children in India.

In Baghban, only the children who are exceptionally selfish are unhappy about having to look after their old parents. In Piku, even a good dutiful daughter who loves her father is also unhappy about having to look after him. Piku struggles to breathe, to vent, and to have a companion who can be the emotional support she is lacking. Piku ends up giving an impression that children cannot be happy if they are trying to look after their aged parents and trying to have a life at the same time. While this was just a fringe sentiment in Baghban, it became a central one in Piku. Twelve years after Baghban, Piku brings attention to how extraneous old parents have become to the lives of their children, how detached the Indian youth has become from the aging India. And simultaneously the film raises multiple questions on what the aging population in India is to face in coming times, with their expectations on one side and children’s alienation on the other.

Ideologically, Baghban is explicitly a statement against the ill-treatment of aging people by their children. Piku, however, implicitly roots for the idea of women’s freedom and independence. But also, when an old parent’s care becomes an impediment for such freedom and independence, the film indirectly hints at euthanasia, an easy and quick way out for the ailing bodies that drag and slow down everyone around them. The new generation in the country has a lot to explore and achieve and slowing down would mean missing out on those opportunities. Additionally, the film also makes the viewers question whether it is worth looking after aging parents who are too difficult or hard on their caregiving children. From Baghban in 2003 to Piku in 2015, we see a lot of strengthening of this idea in India of aging parents as “burdens” in the lives of their children owing to the care they need in old age.

The discourse on women’s rights and sexuality has progressed a lot in India from 2003 to 2015, which is what gets reflected in Piku. Baghban in 2003 celebrated traditional gender roles of women like fasting for their husband’s long life during Karvachauth, touching husband’s feet for his blessings, being financially dependent on their husbands, and cooking and first serving food to men in the family. In 2013, India saw a huge revival of women’s rights movement after a Delhi rape case in December 2012. Along with discussions on women’s safety, the movement offered an opportunity to question many other topics like traditional gender roles, sexual freedom, the freedom to dress without being judged or harassed, and the freedom to visit public spaces traditionally seen as men’s. India after the Delhi rape case and the feminist movement that followed it is very different from the earlier India. People are quicker to point out gender biases and are more vocal about issues concerning women. Cinema also reflects this new sense of awareness in the country. Piku’s narrative is grounded in this feminist agenda.

Summing up, this comparative study of Baghban and Piku helps understand the shifting complexities of the relationship between old age parents and their adult children in India. Together the films capture both, realities and perceptions, prevalent in the country on the subject. The analysis also shows how patriarchy and caregiving to old age parents are often overlapping and intersecting aspects of the socio-cultural norms in the country. Also, the drastic change in these norms, within a short span of 12 years from Baghban to Piku, underscores the speedy and chaotic societal change that India has gone through during the first two decades of the twenty-first century.