Toilet: A Love Story (2017)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A newly married girl arrives at the husband's home to settle down only to realize that there was no toilet in the home. The villagers take a leaf out of the saying 'The world is my oyster' and suitably Indianise this to 'world is my toilet' - indulging in jolly open defecation socialization. As the niche films go, this is a really even more offbeat off regular offbeat topics, and the film makers need to be congratulated on even contemplating such a topic, that too by roping in A-lister like Akshay Kumar who plays the male lead Keshav Sharma. From such a lofty concept, the execution goes down the toilet in no time. There is usual formulaic love story. The guy falls for a girl (Bhumi Pednekar as Jaya Sharma) and stalks her - in typical Indian film style. She rebuffs him, rather severely at some point, the hero gets peeved, and after usual Bollywood drivel about how deeply he is in love, she repents and relents. Then it is the hero's turn to rebuff - that macho charisma needs to be presented - that a well educated and well-sought after girl is after the male who is sub par. This is where the 'villain' comes in - hero's father, a rank traditionalist who goes by the religious principles - or his interpretation of it. He is a stickler to scriptures, from marriages to toilets. First part is easy. The bride needs to have particular physical characteristics, but in these days of designer costumes, designer hands is not far off and the contraption works. This is just an introduction to show how tough it would be to change the old man's mind.All the while we were under the impression that open defecation is a problem because of poverty preventing an affordable toilet and/or habitual attitude against built in closed structures in favour of open air performance. The habitual often goes by the term 'cultural'. Not so, say the film makers. They assert that the real problem is religious tradition, and in particular- Brahmanical tradition. No doubt, the director found a marketable opportunity for such a socially emotive bugbear for the audience to identify themselves against. The Keshav's father is a staunch toilet traditionalist, The new bride, Jaya, being modern, would have none of it.Open defecation - to deify or defy is the crunch question. After dismissing wife's travails initially, Keshav takes her concerns seriously after she reads the riot act - 'provide me a toilet, or else..'. The film takes quite a few artistic liberties in delivering comic solutions - from visiting a home with toilet under the pretext of visiting an old immobile lady, to exploiting a train that stops for a very short while. While these are excusable, pitching the problem as modern vs religious tradition is crass. The real problems of lack of safety, hygiene have been given perfunctory treatment. Instead, they resort to the straw man - tradition over whose marketing potential countless love stories have been filmed. Other than the unusual topic, there is hardly anything edifying about the film.

This film is set in rural india. Small towns have their own charisma. Akshay Kumar puts his heart and soul into it and delivers a power packed performance. His younger brother is played by Dwiyendu and he catches the dialect perfectly and delivers a beautiful performance. Bhumi Pednekar does these roles with ease. The message in the film is very important and gets delivered to the audience while they are being entertained. Kudos to Bollywood. They have come a long way

What could one expect out of a movie which is titled toilet ek prem katha. Well that's exactly what it is about, a love story woven around the issue of an in-house toilet in villages. The film highlights the plight of Indian villages where most people especially women face trouble resorting to open defecation. It felt like a mixture of Bollywood and content movie.The love affair seemed sweet and convenient to me. The manner in which their love blossoms is ethnic in nature , may be this is how it happens in our villages given that it is based on a true incident.I found it a sloppy one since there is not much that the characters endure. All the characters are fairly sketched as per the demand of the context I believe. Akshay is usual self and Bhoomi is also great ,but there could have been much more specially talents like Anupam Kher ,Devyendu have little to offer here and they add a pinch of humor and make it a better watch.However the good part was I shared the cinema experience with so many people which has become a rarity these days. Laughing at the dialogues together was great fun. I can forget everything but this "Mitti laga lo , Tatty laga lo" LOL .Another fun incident was when Keshav arranges for a fake second thumb in Jaya's hand and even succeeds to get married. This seemed way too far to me. Does that mean priests are superstitious and stupid? The background score and music is fair. All in all, a decent watch which brings about awareness regarding the need for toilets in our villages and how stubborn old beliefs and lopsided government initiatives are roadblocks to better sanitation facilities in our country.An unusual premise delivering warm-hearted entertainment.

It's a movie that focuses one of the major and shameful challenges that India is facing today - open defecation. While it is definitely cringe-worthy but it also compromises with women's security. While the story was great - better direction would have made the movie more impactful. Also, unnecessary marketing of government and certain brands is a total spoiler. Story (8/10): It is based on several true stories in India where a woman leaves the in-laws place after knowing that they don't have a toilet at home. In the backdrop of a small town in UP, Keshav is a 30 something unmarried who falls in love with Jaya and eventually marries her. However, after realizing that there is no toilet at his place, Jaya refuses to defecate in open and insists that Keshav build a toilet within the house. However, it's not so easy as Keshav's father, Panditji, a highly religious man, considers it a sin to have a toilet on the same premises where they worship God. After trying many quick-fixes (jugaad), nothing works and Jaya decides to divorce Keshav until the toilet is built. The movie projects many issues that are the root of open defecation (which is just a symptom) - women oppression, blind beliefs, extremist religious views, patriarchal practices, administrative lethargy and more. Through Keshav's character, the story also conveys that it is not enough to just personally consider women as equal to provide them equal rights. If you don't fight any force that oppresses women, you are a part of oppression too. However, the story ends up projecting religion as the only reason (ignoring issues of casteism and lack of dignity of labor) behind the issue of open defecation, which is not true. Acting (9/10): The movie boasts a great cast put together even in the character roles. People to watch out for are - Bhumi Padnekar and Sudhir Pandey. Akshay Kumar is good, although you miss Ajay Devgan in some of the scenes, especially the outburst one where this guy looks a little off (I can easily visualize Ajay doing it with so much ease). Bhumi Padnekar continues to impress in her second movie. Her command over the language is bloody amazing. Her monologue to the women of her village is definitely the heart of the movie. Sudhir Pandey, playing a negative role of an ultra-religious person, was amazing with his spot on expressions and dialog delivery. He made his presence felt very strongly. Divyendu Sharma is great as a second lead with some amazing punches throughout the movie. Anupam Kher is great, except in the scenes that describe his character. Other big names like Ayesha Raza, Atul Shrivastava, Shubha Khote and Rajesh Sharma ensured that movie never fell flat in the acting department. Direction (6/10): The direction could have been much better - the weakest part of the movie. The build up of Keshav and Jaya's story is not convincing, especially with the character sketches of the lead pair. Director ended up trivializing stalking and taking pictures of girls without consent - which was certainly not expected from this kind of a movie. Also, while the movie successfully highlights the problem and the issues related to it, it fails to explain the root causes and instead, just focuses on the religious aspect. What he successfully achieved is to make sure that the movie isn't a drag at any point in time. The execution of scenes of Sudhir Pandey is good, especially his conversation with Anupam Kher. Overall (7/10): Overall, it was a good effort but could have been much better. The story was good and great performances by Bhumi Padnekar and Sudhir Pandey but poor direction left the movie dangling.