The Middle-Class Blueprint

'Education. Job. Car. Home'. For long, middle class in India has been programmed to operate like a machine without a single line of code. 

The 'struggle' of previous generations acts as a catalyst for the next to bury themselves deep into a rat race, as highlighted timely by Prabhu Vasudevan (Siddharth) - the pivotal if not lead character of 3BHK.

More Than Just a House

In contrast to what the title might point towards, 3BHK is an everyday story lived out by millions of Indian families across its length and breadth. Cultures may differ and eras might have flown by. But one thing that would tie together all these families would be the way of looking at life and the approach taken to navigate its constraints. 

All of this with no choices or way outs, but only impositions without further questions asked.

The Family Dynamic

Starting in late 2000s, 3BHK covers a 20 year journey of a Tamil working class family of 4 residing in Chennai. The 'head' of the house, Vasudevan (R Sarathkumar) is perpetually future oriented, and seldom misses out to press and pin his aspirations down on his son Prabhu and daughter Aarthi (Meetha Raghunath) every chance he gets.

Fuelled by a massive pile of ego that originates from legacy unmet expectations, Vasudevan frequently feels ganged up on by the rest of his family when challenged on his wishes. He is not explicit to warrant subservience, but clearly loses a grip on his emotions with Prabhu bearing most of its brunt. 

Although blindsided in his stance on multiple issues, Vasudevan is nonetheless perseverant in grinding out and making ends meet for his family, even if that entails him learning to use a PC when he's pushing his 50s to salvage his employment.

The Silent Pillar

Vasudevan's wife Shanthi (Devayani) is perhaps like a 'regular' Indian mother - someone who has made her family's life her own. She is agonisingly patient and accommodates every adversity that comes on the way with no fuss given. 

Nowhere in the movie do we see her voicing out opinions, expressing her desires or venting grievances in testing situations. She's a true epitome of the thankless, unremunerated and unforgiving job that housewives ('homemakers' in modern parlance) have been rendered to perform.

Aarthi’s Defiance

Unlike her mother, Aarthi is shown to have a tipping point when it comes to taking crap from people around her. She readily adopts sacrifices she has to make for education, settles with a 'marital alliance' arranged by her family, but finally pays heed to her own inner being and opts to choose a life to lead on her terms.

Prabhu’s Struggles

Lastly there's Prabhu himself. We see him constantly steamrolled and pushed by his father when it comes to making his life choices. Aarthi diligently comes to his rescue on numerous occasions when his back is against the wall, as it often is. 

He is remarkably resilient in facing curveballs right from his teenage, although some of that could be possibly attributed to a nagging sense of failure and mediocrity that hounds him till a point of self-realisation.

Themes and Takeaways

The overarching theme of the story is how circumstances end up delaying the inevitable for Vasudevan and his family as their lives progress. Besides, other motifs such as the craze for IT jobs, marriage of convenience between socio-economic classes, midlife career switch, finding 'love of life' and real estate inflation are also touched upon.

Summing it all up, cinematography is mature and art direction is era appropriate for most parts in sync with timelines. The script appears slightly stretched and could have been compressed. Where 3BHK also lacks some bite is storyboarding in a few of the scenes but nothing major.

Recommended as a solid one-time watch with family (or without, suit yourself!).