By Anagha Biju
Mumbai’s woes about the sky high prices for a basic affordable living are almost as old as the city itself. “A one bedroom flat is where the rich live”, remarks standup comedian Rahul Subramanian about living in Mumbai.
The city’s residential scenario is predominated by slums on one hand and unsold or unoccupied flats on the other. Families have grown inside one bedroom flats but have not been able to grow outside the little house they own or rent. Though finding places for residence is becoming a major predicament in all major cities, the long history of the problem in Mumbai, makes the city an organic choice for setting the narrative of the Netflix drama Love Per Square Foot.
Lighthearted as it is, the film is a not a commentary on why the city is unable to afford a proper decent living to the Mumbaikaars. The film simply accepts the housing woes as part of Mumbai’s basic traits and rather focuses on how the two young ambitious protagonists can own their space. The iconic opening scene of Vicky Kaushal staring at the opposite flat with a longing in his eyes, first thing in the morning, establishes the premise of the film. And the dialogue “Main Mumbai ka hoon, main idhar hi rahunga” reinforces that his aim in life is to buy a house in the city, which his mother who has lived in only the small Railway quarters, is not so easily convinced will happen soon.
It is interesting to note the generation gap playing forth between Kaushal and his parents. The parents are not even thinking of an option to move to some part of the city, after the impending retirement of the father, after which the quarters has to be vacated. Their only option is to go back to the village and it seems they have conditioned themselves that affording a living space in Mumbai is unthinkable for a middle class family. However, the young Kaushal, settled in his job is confident and rather more resolute about owning a flat in the city. In an initial scene when a man says he stole the wallet to pay rent for the house—Kaushal is moved by the man’s plight, clearly thinking about his own pains to buy a flat.
The female lead is Angira Dhar who lives with her mother in an old, dilapidated house, whose roof keeps falling. It is very close to being described as a ‘kuccha’ house. The mother hopes to have her daughter married off to a boy who assures them a good living space. Thus, again the space for living becomes the primary criterion of something as important as marriage. But Dhar’s character Karina dreams of owning her house bought in partnership with her partner and not living in a house that her fiancé has gifted her.
For both Karina and Sanjay (Kaushal), buying a house is part of establishing their identity and selfhood rather than merely a space to move into. And for this they are ready to take any steps. Their desire to buy a house lands them as a married couple to avail the government scheme that allows married couples to buy a house at reduced prices. The clerk in the office manages to get through the process just by filing a marriage application form. But I wonder if he would be so willing to take the risk if it had been for a homosexual couple.
However unoccupied the city flats may be it still largely remains out of bounds to homosexuals and single women. Even heterosexual couples opting for a live-in relationship find it hard to get a space to live. The idea of the government’s or any societal organisation’s definition of marriage still projects the image of the heterosexual couple. Schemes are made catering to its predominant idea and even though we are making headway in including the community, especially in cities like Mumbai, such innocent media representations while leaving the complexities unexplored clearly tell how the thought of a homosexual couple still does not come naturally to us. This strand of thought had not come to me when I was just being a passive consumer, until now having actively, critically thought about the film.
All things take a backseat before the urge to procure a house: getting married, filing wrong documents, indulging in sexual relationships to get his loan approved. Their life and activities revolve around the need to buying the house, as Karina says, “the foundation of our relationship is itself wrong: people fall in love and then buy the house, but in our case it happened the other way.” Even when the two split up, neither is ready to let the house go. It is not just the aspirations associated with the house, the very scarcity of convenient housing options and difficulty of procuring one actually scares them to let the other have it. Houses are an asset, in cities like Mumbai, it could be the most cherished asset; to get one greater battle have to be fought.
The closing scene of Ranbir Kapoor looking at Kaushal’s flat the same way as he once did shows the never ending need of the Mumbaikaars for a house, for a space they can call their own implying that while Sanjay and Karina have managed to fulfill their dream, thousand others are still in the rat race to procure a decent living space in the city. It is a tale that plays on loop.
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