LUDO

LUDO

Life is uncertain; we hear this everywhere. No matter how much we plan, things do not always happen the way we want. Sometimes, one unexpected situation changes everything just like in Ludo, where we are only the pawns and nature rolls the dice.

Netflix’s 2020 film Ludo, written and directed by Anurag Basu, is based on a similar thought. It shows the chaos and unpredictability of life in a simple and interesting way.

I recently watched this movie, and I want to share the thoughts that came to my mind about its characters and story.

Just as a Ludo board has four houses, this story also has four parallel stories running together. We know that parallel lines meet at infinity, but in this film, that infinity comes quite early. It is a fun and thrilling movie.

In the yellow house, there are Akash, a lover boy, and Shruti, a practical girl, along with their situationship.

In the red house, there are Bittu and Mini. Bittu is separated from his daughter and wants to reconnect with his daughter, while Mini does not feel valued or cared for by her parents.

In the green house, there is Aalu, who is madly in love with Pinki, and Pinki often takes advantage of his love.

In the blue house, there are Rahul and Sheejaa, two sweet people who are already troubled in their own lives and are running for survival throughout the movie.

The combination of all these colours creates Sattu Bhaiya, who can murder someone while smiling and singing. He is a gangster, but his screen presence does not really make you feel scared.

And now, let’s talk about these characters.

If I see it from Mini’s perspective, it’s really heartbreaking. Imagine how ignored and emotionally lonely she must have felt to believe that getting herself kidnapped was the only way to make her parents notice her. She wasn’t thinking about the dangers or consequences she was just a little girl desperate for her parents’ love, attention, and care.

The fact that she was willing to go this far shows how deeply that emotional void affected her. In her mind, if she disappeared, her parents would finally realize how important she was to them.

What makes it even sadder is that she was lucky enough to meet Bittu at a time when he was deeply missing his daughter, Ruhi. Because he was carrying that pain and longing, he naturally formed a fatherly bond with Mini and saw a part of Ruhi in her. Had she crossed paths with the earlier Bittu who was with Sattu, the outcome could have been very different.

And that’s why parents should never underestimate a child’s emotional needs. Childhood never comes back. Whatever a child feels during those years whether love, neglect, security, or loneliness often stays with them for life. The burden of not feeling loved enough in childhood becomes a lifelong grief and regret for many people. Mini’s story is painful because, beneath all the innocence, it’s the story of a child who just wanted to feel loved.

“Bittu loved Ruhi enough to let her happiness matter more than his own.”

There was a scene in the movie where Bittu was talking to Mini about her dog, Chiku. Mini said that if Chiku is happy, then she is happy too. That simple talk made Bittu understand something big. Even if he got Ruhi back, she may never be as happy with him as she is now, he knew.

That realization changed it all. Bittu gave up on his own desires, he chose Ruhi’s happiness over his own. Despite the betrayal he had suffered and all the pain he had gone through, he gave the money without any conditions. It was a moment that showed how mature, and thoughtful Bittu truly was.

Bittu is a living example of the saying, ‘The quietest people have the loudest minds.’ He probably had the least dialogue of anyone in the entire movie but his actions spoke louder than anyone else’s.  Every decision he made revealed the depth of his character.

“Sometimes people don’t miss you, they miss the comfort, care, and security your presence gave them.”

Coming to Aalu and Pinki...

Aalu is one of the most innocent and kindest characters in the movie. He loves Pinki so much that he is ready to do almost anything for her, even get involved in criminal activities to help save her husband. His love is true, loving, and childlike. What annoyed me about Pinki’s character was how she took advantage of the love over and over again. She knew how emotionally attached Aalu was to her and manipulated him whenever it suited her needs.

 Every time she appeared on screen, I found myself getting angry because it raised an important question: Just because someone loves you unconditionally, does that give you the right to use them for your own convenience?

This is something we see a lot today as well. Many people are emotionally vulnerable and not mature enough to recognize when they’re being used, while others take advantage of that attachment. That’s why emotional intelligence is so important being kind doesn’t mean allowing yourself to be exploited.

What makes Pinki’s character even more interesting is the ending. If her husband had treated her well and their relationship had worked out, would she have ever gone back to Aalu? In my opinion, perhaps not. She came back to Aalu after killing her husband, who had questioned her character, because she knew Aalu would still accept her.

That’s why I don’t see her return as an act of love. It felt more like another decision based on convenience. She knew Aalu would always be there for her, and she relied on that. Sadly, Aalu’s biggest strength his ability to love selflessly also became his biggest weakness. He loved her so much that he couldn’t see how often that love was being used.

On one side, there are Pinki and Aalu, and on the other side, there are Bittu and his ex-wife Sumi. In both cases, Pinki and Sumi seek help from someone, but the way they do it is completely different.

Sumi was helpless. She turned to Bittu for the sake of her daughter and her family’s survival. At the same time, Bittu helps Sumi not because of his feelings for her, but because of his love for his daughter, Ruhi. He is not manipulated into helping her. In fact, despite being betrayed by Sumi in the past, he still chooses to help when it comes to his daughter. This shows how generous Bittu is and how deeply he loves his daughter.

The  difference is that Sumi never emotionally manipulates Bittu or uses his feelings against him. One reason for this could be that after Sumi’s betrayal, Bittu had become emotionally mature. He no longer makes decisions blindly out of love but handles situations with greater understanding and responsibility.

Pinki, on the other hand, knows how deeply Aalu loves her. Aalu’s love is his biggest weakness, and throughout the story, Pinki often appears to rely on that love and loyalty to get his help. That is why Aalu’s character feels more tragic, while Bittu comes across as more thoughtful and considerate.

“बोए पेड़ बबूल का, तो आम कहाँ से होय?”

Sattu’s dialogue “When luck sucks, everyone...” is funny on the surface, but it reflects something many people experience in real life.

If someone is doing well, happy or successful, people want to be around him.  But when they go through a difficult phase, face failures, lose money, or struggle emotionally, many of those same people disappear.

The real question is: Should we only stand with people during their good times and leave them alone during their bad times?

But here lies another perspective.

When a person is doing well, is he really thinking about others’ betterment, or is he just focused on enjoying his best phase and happy moments?

What did Sattu do to his closest ally, Bittu?

When Bittu left his gang, Sattu made him suffer in jail for six years. And it’s so ironic that later he blames others for not helping him when he is struggling.

So karma was bound to hit him someday.

Maybe bad times don’t just show who your real friends are. Maybe they also make you face the consequences of how you treated people when life was going well for you.

Moving on to Akash and Shruti...

Akash was a funny, emotional, and empathetic character in the movie. In the leaked video scandal,  although his face was not visible, he tried his best to get the video taken down. That tells a lot about his character.

He was not as selfish as Pinki, but he was not as selfless as Bittu either. He genuinely wanted Shruti to stay in his life.

Shruti, on the other hand, was a practical girl who was confused between her feelings and the life she had imagined for herself. She was confused between love and security, emotions and practicality.

Their story portrays the challenges and emotions involved in today’s modern relationships.

Shifting to Rahul and Sheeja...

Their story is probably the most chaotic and unpredictable pair in the movie. Unlike the others, they are fighting for their survival. If Sattu and his men find them, they could be killed.

As they keep running and trying to survive, a feeling gradually develops between them, which I found quite cute. Both of them were troubled at their workplaces and seemed a bit confused about their lives.

Yet, together they looked really cute, and their chemistry made their story enjoyable to watch.

The movie talks about sin, virtue, heaven, and hell. It says that these things can be different for different people.

What is a sin for one person may be a good deed for someone else. What feels like heaven to one person may feel like hell to another.

All the characters have different struggles and follow different paths, yet the movie brings them onto the same board so naturally. That is the beauty of its writing and screenplay.

In the end, Ludo is not just about love, crime, thrill, survival, or betrayal. It is about how life can change with one unexpected move. We can plan our next step, but we cannot control the dice.

As the Bhagavad Gita says,

“कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन”

The film reminds us that life is full of uncertainty, chaos, and unexpected turns. What may feel bad today can turn out to be the best thing for us tomorrow.

We spend so much time planning every part of our lives and calculating every possible outcome. But does everything really happen according to our plans? No.

So, instead of trying to control every outcome, maybe we should learn to let things be and trust the journey wherever life takes us.