Pasand Apni Apni

   

      In the Indian film, Pasand Apni Apni (1983), the differences between lower class, middle class, and upper class are clearly portrayed in three main characters: Geeta (Rati Agnihotri), Sandeep Anand (Mithun Chakraborty), and Sriram Chaudhary (Utpal Dutt).

      Geeta is lower class. She lives in a dinky apartment-like building with her brother and her mother. They eat small homemade meals together on the floor. Because they are so poor, Geeta's mother and brother rely on her for financial support. She works as a dancer for Sriram Chaudhary and is constantly arriving to work late due to her own tendencies as well as transportation inconsistencies. In general, it seems like the lower class are less puntual. Her clothes are simple (besides the ones she wears dancing), yet beautiful. She never takes taxis or rides in cars because they are too expensive. Even Sriram Chaudhary, her boss, doesn't usually. Instead, she takes an extremely crowded bus or walks. At the beginning of the movie, Geeta is having a hard time paying rent and is in debt to her landlord. She doesn't eat out often, but when she does, she goes to a more casual place because of prices. Geeta's life is hard, but it's not terrible.

       Sriram Chaudhary is middle class. He owns a play-making franchise and relies on a group of sponsors to continue running his business. During most of the movie, he doesn't have any money to pay his sponsors back and they are growing impatient with them. In their presence, he is helpless, but when he is with his employees, he becomes extremely controlling and bossy. It is probably because of his impatience and anxiety over his lack of money and their demand for it that stirs his anger towards the young actresses. He is also just unreasonable, though. His clothing is moderately nice (ex: shiny black hat) and his style is a bit merchant-like. He is very money hungry, even though he's at a reasonably good place in life. When he finds evidence leading him to believe Sandeep, one of the richest men in Bombay, is in love with his employee Geeta, he decides to take advantage of Sandeep's wealth. There is a stereotype that may be attached to that correlation; that middle class people aren't in need, yet they still want more and more. it is more probable, however, that those are just characteristics of Sriram in particular, as the movie seems to speak against prejudice. 

      Sandeep Anand is upper class. He is the head of a giant franchise and lives by himself in a house with "ten or twelve rooms." He wears suits and "nicer" western clothing and he can write out checks for 100,000 rupees on a whim. He is the only character who has a habit of smoking, a more expensive habit. He has a very professional air about him at his work place and he is very intelligent and assertive. Because he is so rich and respected, people recognize him wherever he goes (unless he's disguised, of course). He is also able to do pretty much whatever he wants. He can chase Geeta around, because he doesn't need to work for a living twenty-four seven - or at all, really. Being rich also probably encourages a sense of being able to have whatever he wants (Geeta, for example). On the reverse, however, he is accountable to his whole company and does hold a lot of responsibility.  

      Ideals of privacy, individualism, and community are more subtly expressed in the film. Geeta is a mixture of pride in the poor community and independent fire. She reminds me of a representative for a group; she is very much her own, yet she loves and cares about "her people". Her problem is that she is very biased against rich people. This however, makes sense. They seem to hold their ease of life over the poor, to her, and she simply doesn't understand them. 

      Sriram doesn't seem to really care who he associates with, as long as it benefits him. For example, he is extremely friendly to Geeta, because she is his connection to Sandeep. He then literally worships Sandeep, because he is his connection to money.

      Sandeep, although he is so rich, has no prejudices against the poor, only petty girls. He is so comfortable with them, that he dresses up as on and then falls in love with one, Geeta. he has mercy towards them as well, and gives Sriram 100,000 rupees. He also seemed to have been showing his money off, however. He is able to have literal privacy (be alone at home), but publicly he is known everywhere, though he doesn't seem to mind. The poor, on the other hand, are around people plenty, but are known of by no one.

      We never see Sriram's living conditions, but we do see Geeta's and Sandeep's and they are quite different. Geeta's house looks as if it is two or three rooms. The whole house is small and somewhat cluttered, but the family is close. it would be physically uncomfortable to live in such conditions, but it would be emotionally and spiritually reviving to have such close family. Living in such a home contributed to Geeta's bias against rich people. It also contributed to her loyalty to her family. Although Geeta is depicted as being among the poor, that probably isn't accurate for that time in Bombay. Around fifty percent of the people were living in the slums in Bombay in the 1980's. Geeta isn't quite living in the slums. The government probably wouldn't have allowed the producers to create a true representation of the poor, because it would raise awareness. 

      As mentioned previously, Sandeep's house is giant. He has twelve rooms all to himself. His bedroom is beautiful, and he sleeps alone in a king-sized bed. He has his own servants, who serve him tea and such. Physically, his life is luxurious, but he is very lonely. his rich position in life causes him to be able to help Geeta monumentally, but it also means she is prejudiced against his true identity when it is uncovered. 

      The urban dream in Bombay during the 1980's was probably right in between where Geeta was and where Sandeep was. They wanted to be hardworking and family oriented, but they also wanted to be reasonably comfortable. For some people, they may have wanted simply to be rich, but there were also a lot of people like Geeta, who held grudges against the rich. This was probably because they felt that people with money should be helping them more instead of spending it on only themselves.