Welcome to the quintessential indian middle class ambience. a reticent girl, her over curious mother, and a carefree musician brother on one side and a creative young man, her over caring mother and a sensible father on the other. wait, there is also an endearing olie who is kinda match maker for the two strangers. a feel good cinema is created with how the protagonists solve their dilemma and break the boundaries of their social contrast to give their relationship a new color.
at the cost of sounding cliched, basu chatterjee’s characters are real and the situations create a homely experience. hrishi da’s stories were practical but basu chatterjee’s characters were so authentic. it felt like as if we are on a visit to just another middle class house.
dont even bother to look for a taut script, just enjoy the fun in the subtle touches and nuances added by basu chatterjee. a boy imagining all the wierd things possible on his first date with his latest crush, a mother getting insecure when an outsider draws more attention of her daughter’s interest, a close relative accosting often with bundles of excuses. oh, basu chatterjee coulnt have brought any more down to earth humour to his narratives.
but after all, which film enjoys such an immaculate story telling ? baaton baaton mein is confusing at some stages. why were the lead characters so negative about their relation towards the climax ? besides, henry’s character could have been done a bit more justice. however, it was incredelous fun to see henry [ underplayed by mazhar khan very well ] having his uninvited trips to nancy’s home, making nancy’s mom rage with fury and irritation.
tina munim as nancy lacks consistency in her portrayal of a somewhat author backed role. she was brilliant in crucial scenes but at times fails to be in the shoes of a character that itself needed a bit more grounding however strong it was. amol palekar as tony puts in a natural performance. even the minor characters like uncle tom, philumena aunty, tony’s mother leave a strong impression on one senses. but the show is fairly stolen by ranjit chowdhary as sabbi and pearl padamsie as rosie, who perform effortlessly throughout and make for a perrenial delight.
other fine aspects of the movie are the music and the lenses used. since the people involved in the goings on are christians, the background score and the colors invariably remind us of goa which gives the film a breezy feeling.
basu chatterjee’s forte was bona fide middle class stories and he did it quite impeccably. in short, Baaton baato mein is like nancy’s character in the film - quite nicely etched but not perfectly, a bit wrong at times, affably intriguing and most importantly left us wanting for more and thus coaxes me to give strong recommendation.