Why The Remarkable Emma Morley Deserved To Live
It has been just about three weeks since I binge-watched Netflix’s One Day. Although I went into this without having read David Nicholls’ novel or the 2011 Anne Hathaway movie, it’s safe to say that I was shattered at the end of the mostly invigorating and slightly exhausting romance. Now I have to make a confession. I sort of went into the binge having known the huge spoiler (well pardon me, I do realise that there’s no need for me to conceal the elephant in the room for I’ve made things quite clear with the headline). I went in knowing that the remarkable Emma Morley (played by the outrageously brilliant Ambika Mod) was eventually going to die.
How hard can her loss be, I wondered (Devastatingly large, I would later realise). For she started off as this nerdy yet guarded female lead who falls for the college hottie. Of course a ‘will they won’t they’ ensued between these two opposites and as predictable as the circumstances were, Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall made the journey exciting with their electricity. For the first time, we got to see a brown, Indian-origin woman play a romantic lead with so much tenacity, yet freedom. With every episode, I fell in love with her a bit more. Of course, I wanted to punch her during a few instances — especially whenever she would talk down to Dexter — but that, I realised, was a form of self-reflection. It was like me wanting to punch my best friend whenever she’d want to go back to her sus boyfriend. It was never out of the frustration of not being able to connect with an American romcom lead, something that many of us Indians usually face. I was stunned by how flawed her character was. She might be madly in love with Dexter, but that doesn’t stop her from shoving him into the deep sea when he takes her for granted. I mean she has one of the best lines in the series: she calls a man a bourgeois fascist at some point. An OG queen.
Which is why, when we eventually came to the controversial finale, I was heartbroken, although my fragile heart (Like Jude Law from The Holiday, I am a huge crier, but only when it comes to films) was prepared for Emma’s end. And then I asked myself the question. Why did anyone have to die in the first place? Couldn’t Emma and Dexter have finally just lived out their old age, many fans like me questioned. But if someone absolutely HAD to die, why couldn’t it have been Dexter? I realise that he’s had a terribly unfortunate life — his mother died watching him fail in life, his best bud cheated on him, and of course, he eventually loses the love of his life. But did Emma come such a long way, swimming through depths of insecurities and numerous career burnouts, riding through the Dexter-shaped hole in heart for much of her 20s and 30s to just…die? As a brown woman and a writer myself, Emma Morley’s success somehow felt like my own. As brilliant as Leo Woodall is, the show to me, will always be about Emma and her absolute zeal for life. I imagine for her, a thriving life and career in Paris. I wish it ended right at the Paris episode, with Emma finally happy with her romantic life, and especially content with her writing. That’s the life that Emma Morley deserved. ~ Sruthi Ganapathy Raman
Our Reviews This Week
Madgaon Express: A supremely funny trip to the movies.
Swatantrya Veer Savarkar: A portrait of our attitudes in the present
Lootere: A gripping, violent voyage on choppy waters
Rebel: This action film is too formulaic to leave an impact
Ae Watan Mere Watan: How not to make a historical biopic
Will We Ever Get An Honest Biopic?
So the Ilaiyaraaja biopic is happening and we could not be more excited to witness a bygone era of Tamil cinema come to life on the big screen and perhaps, capture anecdotes featuring the many revered titans—Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, to drop a few names—of this ecosystem who have been a part of the maestro's journey. In fact, it is being reported that Kamal Haasan is penning the screenplay of the biopic. Of course, it is approved by the man himself. As exciting as the prospect of witnessing the Golden era of Tamil cinema on the big screen is, one question continues to linger in my mind: will it be an honest depiction of the artist and the ecosystem? Now, I'm not necessarily expecting the biopic to paint a vile image of Tamil cinema or portray Ilaiyaraaja himself as a grey person, but will the film be an unflinching portrayal of an artist that portrays him as a fallible human being or exalt him to the status of God, leaning towards a hagiography?
Part of this question stems from the fact that there has been a significant paucity of honest portrayals of real-life personalities in our cinema. It is a result of multiple aspects. Freedom of speech exists but it comes with its own set of litigations. In 2020, for instance, Netflix had to restrain the release of an episode of Bad Boy Billionaires: India, based on a petition filed by Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, whose 2009 financial fraud was documented in the episode. The streamer went online with episodes centred on Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy though. We often get films that base characters on real-life people but they always avoid mentioning the actual names. In fact, Ranbir Kapoor stated in an interview that filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani had to change the names of some real-life personalities in his Sanju (2018) because the individuals weren't happy with the way they were portrayed in the film.
While political films like The Accidental Prime Minister, Yatra, and its sequel somehow gained a leeway on the portrayal front, this is an area where most films seem to struggle. Naturally, filmmakers are cautious of offending individuals and putting the entire film at stake and the concern is fair enough, considering these are matters of sensitivity. As a result, we are getting only two kinds of portrayals in such real-life inspired films. First, the 'good guys' are exalted to God level and second, the 'bad guys' are relegated to ridicule or downright evil. Both of them are one-dimensional and lack nuance. And the onus is on the entire ecosystem. So the question remains, will we ever get an Oppenheimer-like biopic that doesn't flinch while criticising an entire country, its government and its citizens while documenting a dark time in history, and goes on to make a billion dollars and win coveted Oscars? Are we, as a society, ready to accept our collective flaws being depicted on the big screen? Even if a miracle happens and an Oppenheimer gets made in India, we should always be open to the possibility of a family member of Lewis Strauss approaching the court to stop the release of the film for disrespecting his legacy and portraying him in a negative light.
And the question remains: will we ever get an honest biopic? ~ Ram Venkat Srikar