Luka Chuppi Turns 2: A Progressive Comedy With A Unique Take On Live-In Relationships

Kriti Sanon and Karthik Aryan starrer Luka Chuppi turns two. This Laxman Utekar directorial deals with one of the most controversial issues in the Indian society: live-in relationships. Though movies like Cocktail, Shudh Desi Romance and Katti Batti have spoken about this concept earlier, Luka Chuppi's take on it is a different one. It portrays what we may call live-in with family. The movie is one of its kind as it perfectly blends a stigamatised social issue with humour driving home why our outlook on live-in relationships should now change.

The stigma attached to live in relationships

The movie opens with reporters asking Nazeem Khan, a film star if he is an a live-in relationship. When he answers in the affirmative, there is a media uproar. This is because living with your partner outside wedlock is considered disgraceful and against India's tradition and culture. He is believed to be a negative influence for the youth.

This notion holds true for Vishnu Trivedi, a failing politician who demands a ban on live-in relationships. Similarly, Mrs. Srivastava, suspecting Guddu and Rashmi to be living together, calls the entire neighbourhood to expel them from the apartment. The couple has to arrange fake wedding photos to calm them down. This in itself shows how we are still not open to change and far from accepting a system that allows the youth to live a life of their choice.

Unlike the women we usually find in the Indian cinema, Rashmi is progressive and doesn't immediately agree to Guddu's proposal of marriage. While her father demands a complete elimination of live-in relationships, she wants to give it a try before getting married. The couple is not free from challenges once they start living together. The landlord asks them for extra rent as they will be living in the apartment without "the license" of marriage. Their troubles don't end here. They have to project themselves as a married couple to avoid problems. On being caught by Babulal, they have no option but to shift to Guddu's house.

Luka Chuppi normalises live in relationships

Once their "live-in with family" starts, all their attempts to secretly get married fail. Finally, they decide to tie the knot at an anonymous public mass marriage ceremony where Vishnu happens to be the chief guest. As the movie nears its end, we see how Guddu and Rashmi explain Vishnu that majority of the voters consists of the youth that wants to live on its own terms. If he keeps opposing their ways, he is bound to keep losing the elections.

The movie also explains to the audience that the stigma surrounding live-in relationships should now come to an end. After all, what is the harm in choosing to live with your partner and getting to understand your compatibility better before going in for marriage, a life-long commitment? Guddu and Rashmi are not just movie characters but real people we see around us. Around 80 per cent of the Indian youth support live in relationships but we cannot expect the same from the older generation. Its our responsibility to make them understand that knowing your partner through and through is important for a happy marriage and what could be a better option to do that than move in together?

What the actors have to say

During the days of promoting her film, Kriti Sanon said to Her Zindagi that she doesn't judge couples who opt for live-in relationships and that its okay. "I really feel like its okay. I will really never judge someone who wants to go for a live-in relationship. I think most of us want to get married only once and we want to be absolutely sure of the person we are marrying. If going for a live-in relationship gives you a little bit of clarity on that then you should absolutely go for it", she said.

Kartik told PTI that Indian society is more realistic today and our thinking is widening. "Indian society today is more realistic... In a way it is good that our thinking is widening. People are open to thinking in a way which was not there earlier. We are in a good democratic situation where we are free to think, free to say and do things, which are not harming anyone else," said the actor. What is your opinion on Luka Chuppi and the way it normalises live in relationships?

Views expressed are author's own