Piku and Rana: My Favourite Film Couple

I remember walking out from the theater after watching Piku asking myself: How can a movie leave you satisfied and yet wanting more? I guess this is the curse of good storytelling. I wanted more of Piku and Rana, and their unspoken conversations and their spoken conversations between their eyes. Their eyes could never lie. Even if their words lied, their eyes always gave them away, laying bare their annoyance, guardedness, sympathy, respect, love, yearning, and the eventual peace they found with each other that they could not find within or outside their families. It is not only the journey of their eyes that makes their budding romance heartrending but also their respect for each other as individuals.

Piku is drawn to Rana because he is able to hold his own against her father. He is able to see through her father’s façade and see her for who she truly is. Rana does this cleverly and playfully by suggesting home remedies such as drinking pudina and tulsi and telling Bhashkor to try using an Indian-style bathroom rather than a Western-style on. This ultimately reveals that Rana has understood Bhashkor. Bhashkor will do anything to benefit his own well-being as he is afraid to die, even if it means keeping his daughter from the things she truly wants. He wants to be the master of his own death. Despite claiming to give Piku the freedom to make her own choices. he does not let her drive or get married. Why? Because he will no longer be her sole focus. If she gets married, her responsibilities and loyalties will be divided. She will not be under his control. Her sole focus will no longer be his well-being. However, Rana sees through it all and gives Piku a taste of being free by letting her drive and be in control. He is able to give a voice to her frustrations of being held back from what she truly desires. What sick pleasure do parents get by emotional blackmailing their children? In those two lines, Rana says what she has been dying to but can’t. He is able to tell her side of the story. She has been given the wings to be free. It all started when she decided to sit in the driver's seat.

With Rana, maybe it is easier for him to be the voice of reason as he is simply the driver able to observe with no stake and nothing else to keep him occupied; he takes an interest in Piku and her father, helping them navigate and steer their dysfunctional relationship. This, despite being unable to do so in his own family. He too is saddled by being the primary caregiver which is why he is unable to change the status quo within his own family and able to relate to Piku on a deep level. He has an immense respect for Piku as a person and for her choices which is why when she proposes, he says: I am not crazy. What he means is that he would not come in between her and her father. He would not bring her into another dysfunctional family. He knows the reality of his own family.

Piku and Rana are sandwiched between their selfish families, which is why you are not upset that they choose not to be with each other. You know their love is about respecting each other and respecting each other’s choices. This is why we only see them starting a friendship after Bhashkor dies. The film leaves their fate open-ended, and I choose to have faith in their love. I believe they will eventually find a way to be with each other.