The movie ‘Bommarillu’ stood the test of time with its heartwarming story, inviting us to consider whether genuine love brings freedom or suffocates it. As the story unfolds, we see how, as humans, we often have the tendency to emotionally suffocate those whom we love while genuinely intending to care for their well-being. It begs us to question if it is possible to be truly free in genuinely loving relationships.
The story begins with Sidhu and Hasini, two seemingly incompatible people, falling in love. Hasini lives with her single dad, who indulges her carefree spirit, while Siddhu lives in a joint family, in which his dad, Aravind, has the final word on everything that happens at home. Their opposing personalities inevitably attract them to each other. But despite this, they recognise that they are not free to love each other due to Aravind’s high-handedness in Sidhu’s life.
As the story progresses, Siddhu admits to Hasini that he has already been engaged to another woman. Having to bear the pain of his father controlling all of his choices, he grievously tells her that he was always determined to not let his father dictate who he would marry and what career he would choose. But now that he was engaged to be married against his wishes, his only option was to introduce Hasini to his family with the bleak hope that somehow he could break off his engagement and marry Hasini instead. We see how Sidhu finds himself in a precarious position. He can neither freely choose what he wants for his life nor deny his father’s care for him.
After Hasini’s father reluctantly agrees, Siddhu takes her home to a dismayed family. She makes every effort to lighten up the atmosphere, and eventually, everyone except Siddhu’s dad develops a strong liking for Hasini as they enjoy her free-spiritedness. But as Hasini grows closer to Sidhu’s family, they realise that all of them have been under a false impression about Sidhu’s true feelings. They come to terms with how he has been suffocating amid the pressure of obeying his father and wanting the freedom to live life on his own terms.
Meanwhile, due to the pressure of his father’s disapproval, Sidhu harshly scorns her carefree attitude and blames her for the unrest in his family. After learning the truth, Hasini’s dad forcefully takes her home. A broken-hearted Sidhu realises how unfairly he had treated Hasini, even as he understands that it is too late to turn things around with her. Things start to get dire when Aravind confronts Sidhu about his life choices. Sidhu gives up trying to make his father understand his frustration and tells him despairingly that he will do whatever his father decides. Aravind gets taken aback at why Sidhu, instead of regarding his care and concern for his son’s well-being as love, is responding to it with a deep sense of despair. He confronts Sidhu again about why he feels suffocated when all that he genuinely intended was to love his son.
At this point, Sidhu’s patience hits rock bottom, and he exasperatingly vents out his long and deeply held resentment against his father. He pleads with him to understand the pain of having a father who was able to provide all that he needed but who never gave him the freedom to choose what he really wanted. With deep anguish, he implores his father not to expect him to be happy by giving him things that he never wanted. Aravind finally realises how he has been suffocating his son’s freedom in the name of love. A regretful Aravind apologises to Sidhu and finally gives him the freedom to choose what he wants. Sidhu immediately finds Hasini, and after some persuading, she agrees to marry him. The story ends on a happy note, leaving us with a sense of intrigue about how freedom is so intrinsic to genuine love.
The movie ‘Bommarillu’ is a gripping reminder for why it is so essential to love in a way that truly frees those whom we love. It invites us to think about how we could emotionally smother people when our expressions of love are mixed with unintended motives. Despite caring deeply for the well-being of others, we could often suppress their freedom by controlling how they experience our love. This could cause them to feel completely overwhelmed by their perception of what appears to be true love when, in reality, it is oppressive and controlling. In light of the movie, we see how love can be genuine only when we earnestly uphold the dignity and consider the desires of those whom we love, which inevitably frees them to experience our love deeply and meaningfully.
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Written by Roselina Vundi
