Inspired by Varun Agarwal’s novel, Abhishek Sinha’s latest movie, Tumse Na Ho Payega, promised to be a deep dive into the story of how a middle-class boy risked it all to make a company whose success would inspire thousands of other entrepreneurs. The film doesn’t quite do justice to that particular idea, but it has its own humorous approach to the whole thing. The main idea seemed to be that of defining success in an age where society pressures everyone to conform and sacrifice one’s individuality. The film features the friendship and banter that become part and parcel of the journey towards success. The story revolves around Gaurav Shukla, who leaves his job and starts a tiffin service only to find that he has little to no support from his family, while Anu Aunty, his neighbor, makes his mother insecure regarding his future.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
As if it weren’t enough that neither Gaurav’s mother nor his neighbors were supportive of his career, his childhood friends also laughed at his fantasies of starting his own business. Gaurav had already quit his job, which wasn’t appreciated by anybody. His mother was embarrassed by the fact and went around giving all kinds of fake scenarios as to why Gaurav had become a homebody. Society’s pressure had started to get to Gaurav as well, as he too began to lie about his unemployment. Anu Aunty was one major concern for him. Her son Arjun was the kind of person who had no respect for anybody else’s ambition, and yet Anu Aunty projected him as the best a son could be. Arjun was miles ahead in ‘life’s race’—a fact Anu Aunty proudly shoved in everyone’s face. The entrepreneur inside Gaurav’s couldn’t wait any longer, and he decided to take the first step himself without telling her mother. That first step laid the foundation of a story that changed everyone’s entire perception of success.
How Did Gaurav Get The Idea Of A Tiffin Service?
Gaurav had pursued engineering and then went on to do a job that did not interest him one bit. When he told his friends Sharad and Hardik about his business plans, they acted as grade-A naysayers, shooting down all his confidence. Their theory was that every invention and business idea that Gaurav’s engineering mind could come up with had already been made. All the apps and gadgets were already out in the market, and Gaurav would play a losing battle competing in that market, given his lack of experience in entrepreneurship. But Gaurav already knew all these facts. He was done with complicated things.
After 5 years of work, the one thing that truly made him happy was when he shared his lunch with his colleague, who was fed up with ordering bad-quality food. Gaurav’s business idea came from here. He wanted to start a tiffin service targeting all the office-going folks who wanted to taste authentic home-cooked food. From his experience, he knew there were many such people in Mumbai who were bachelors, and in the hustle, they had no time to arrange for that kind of food that was made with care, the same as that of a mother. So, Gaurav put his bets on this business idea. It was easy to execute, as he contacted his neighbor, Pummy Aunty, from whom he used to take his own tiffin during his office days. He got her to pack a few more tiffins for some extra income, and she didn’t refuse.
Why Was Everybody Concerned Regarding Gaurav’s Career Switch?
Nobody had any idea regarding Gaurav’s vision. There is a temptation in people sometimes to leave their jobs and start their own businesses, but these impulses are mostly a result of a need to break free. They don’t grant someone business acumen, and that’s what Gaurav’s mother was worried about. Apart from her traditional approach of wanting Gaurav to find a stable job, this was also the case with Gaurav’s father. He had dabbled in business himself, and he failed miserably, and perhaps it was the failure he couldn’t bear and passed away. Nobody wanted that fate for Gaurav. As far as his friends were concerned, they just didn’t dream as big as Gaurav, who believed that with sincere efforts and a calculated approach, the tiffin business could be a success. Sharad understood Gaurav’s vision only when he tasted Pummy Aunty’s home-cooked food that Gaurav himself had dropped at his office. Sharad saw the potential of Gaurav’s idea and thus became his partner.
Why Did Devika Break Up With Arjun?
Apart from Sharad and Hardik, Gaurav needed lady luck to kickstart his business. Devika was also his childhood friend, but they had grown a little distant since she started dating Arjun, the one man everyone hated. Gaurav had tried to express his desire to be with her but knew that she could be offended if he told her the truth. Gaurav mildly nudged her to think about the possibility that Arjun was just a ‘great catch’ she was trying to be with, which would help her social image. He didn’t actually love her, and neither did she love him. Devika gave him an earful as he was overstepping his boundaries, but that one conversation made her see that Arjun was really full of himself and would never give her the time and attention that Gaurav could. According to Gaurav, there was an ‘Anu Aunty’ sitting in everyone else, forcing and pressuring everyone to make choices that would be deemed acceptable and even praiseworthy in society. It didn’t matter if they came from the heart or not. Gaurav was fighting his inner Anu Aunty and going his own way, knowing fully well that if he failed, he would become the laughingstock of the neighborhood. He wanted Devika to fight her Anu Aunty as well and listen to her heart. So she gave it a shot, broke up with Arjun, and started helping Gaurav and Sharad in their business.
How Did Gaurav Define His Idea Of Success?
The business started well, and the company was named ‘Maa’s Magic,’ referring to a secret ingredient in their food: the mother’s love that makes food nutritious and tasty. Gaurav had many other neighbors to help as demand grew. The tiffins were packed in separate individual households, which is why Gaurav had to pay for the van, which went from place to place collecting the tiffins, which were then delivered to offices in different areas of Mumbai. There was a cost to the business that could be mitigated if the food was made in a centralized kitchen. But that meant firing all the mothers, like Pammi Aunty, who had, up until now, contributed to the success of the company.
The idea of a centralized kitchen came from a businessman who wanted to make Maa’s Magic his cash cow. He didn’t care that Gaurav’s vision wasn’t just to make money but also to have integrity as to how the food was made. The centralized kitchen meant that chefs would make their typical food that wouldn’t retain the quality that home-cooked food had. The cost generated by the van and the travel was bearable for Gaurav but not for this businessman. He had invested in the company and saw Gaurav as an inexperienced fellow who could be manipulated. But when Gaurav and Sharad promised to give him his money back due to the conflict in approach, he showed his true colors. He bribed the local vendor, Rajesh, to file a complaint against Gaurav and Sharad for fraud. The company’s reputation plummeted, and vultures started coming in. Arjun tried to buy the company out, but Gaurav declined, causing a rift between him and Sharad, who saw the offer as their only straw left to clutch at.
In the end, Gaurav’s tenacity and belief prevailed. Even though he went through a period of depression where he let the dream drift away, he bounced back. This was possible only because of his mother, who gave away her savings to restart the business. Gaurav had started a job again, but she freed him from her own concerns and asked him to dream again. Devika, too, realized that Gaurav was her true love, and if he failed, it would be a good life just to fail together. Gaurav had lost all the money in the reserve, paying back the businessman and the shareholders, but with his mom’s savings, he started Maa’s Magic again, and luck favored the brave as he got new investors on board. Anu Aunty remained unimpressed with Gaurav’s comeback and blew her own trumpet, telling about Arjun’s admission to Harvard Business School.
During Tumse Na Ho Payega‘s ending, Gaurav finally proved that success was not something that one got purely by following society’s model. They may be there as a guide, but ultimately, one has to call the shots oneself. Arjun sat in that class at Harvard, and Anu must have thought that Gaurav was no match for that kind of feat, but she didn’t know that Gaurav had upped her son long ago. Harvard had called him the guest speaker in Arjun’s class. The difference was clear. Gaurav had now become self-made, and the only opinion that mattered to him when it came to success was his own. This was the advice he gave to the class as well. True success was self-defined. If one fought hard and took responsibility, success would be authentic and not just something fake to post on social media.
