SPOILER ALERT! PLEASE DONT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED ANGREZI MEDIUM
Before we begin, it's necessary to clarify that this writer is well aware that Dil Chahta Hai and Angrezi Medium released in different decades, however, the presence of Dimple Kapadia in Angrezi Medium and Dil Chahta Hai, only urged me to find a cinematic connection, especially in the midst of lockdown, when this writer has nothing else to do apart from binge-watching and catching up with some of the Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video content which I have missed so far.
Although the onscreen mother-daughter duo, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Dimple Kapadia did not serve as the main narrative of Angrezi Medium, they urged us to go back to a time when a heart-broken, alcoholic Tara from Dil Chahta Hai, took some major risks to meet up with her daughter on her birthday. Now, what if Tara (Dimple Kapadia), the artist, got the custody for her child? Maybe the daughter would have chosen to walk out and start her own life, like Naina Kohli (Kareena Kapoor Khan).
This is a daughter who chose to live her own life since when she turned 18. Although Champak (Irrfan) suggested that she has turned into the child who does not make an effort to meet her parents since she earned independence, (keeping our emotions for actor Irrfan aside) it's difficult to ignore that Champak chose to empathise with the parent and not with the child, who was equally struggling to make an effort too.
Champak was the one who literally and metaphorically opened the door when Naina walked in, to her mother's residence to fix her strained relationship with her birth giver, how could he have missed that? Naina had arrived at her doorstep a day before her mother's birthday only to make sure that she is alive and safe. She even brought a gift for her, but it was her mother's association with Champak and Ghasiteram (Deepak Dobriyal) which annoyed Naina, not her mother's presence. It's important to keep in mind that Naina here is a police officer, hence the cop in her was able to smell something fishy when these two men came into her life. Now, would anyone ever be comfortable with the idea that their parents are closely associating themselves with potential thugs and inviting them over for dinner?
Although in the film Naina Kohli lived separately she kept a burglar alert at the residence where her mother lived alone. Had Naina truly been devoid of any feelings for her mother, would she have bothered to keep an alert in her mother's resident? Naina immediately ran from her office with security measures to make catch those suspected burglars.
Tara's daughter from Dil Chahta Hai too risked her life to meet her mother, only, unfortunately, the young girl was caught red-handed by the father who thereby forbade them from ever visiting each other. Naina in Angrezi Medium had held a similar kind of concern for her mother, which Tara's daughter had for her. These several aspects in the mother-daughter relationship, made us believe that maybe consciously or unconsciously writers Bhavesh Mandalia, Gaurav Shukla, Vinay Chhawal, Sara Bodinar completed a story which Dil Chahta Hai had left unsaid.
