Director: Jahnu Barua
Producer: Anupam P. Kher
Cast: Anupam P. Kher, Urmila Matondkar, Parvin Dabas, Rajit Kapur, Boman Irani, Sudhir Joshi, Raju Kher, Vishwaas Paandya, Prem Chopra and Waheeda Rehman
Music: Bappi Lahiri
Cinematography: Raaj A. Chakravarti
Screenplay: Sanjay Chouhan
Films like this give us a pleasant assurance that Indian film industry is maturing and experimenting. It presents a meaningful cinema with excellence in all departments of film-making with a unique blend of social messages. It’s a sensitive and sensible movie but not meant for those viewers who just want some kind of rosy escape from real world. In short it’s not a filmi film yet very intriguing. It has a right pace, building continuous tension slowly till end like pregnancy, where tension and pain finally converges to give birth to a new life.
The story goes like this. A retired professor Uttam Chaudhary ( Anupam kher ) is living with his daughter Trishaa( Urmila ) and son Addy( Addy). His elder son Ronu ( Rajat kapur ) is a married man living with family in US. Trishaa is a NGO worker who has an love-affair with a south-Indian guy ( Vishwash Paandya ).She cares for her father most in the family. Addy is a college going youth representing a particular genre of today’s youth who shows neither any interest in taking familes responsibites, nor they do there own studies sincerely but only enjoys on other family member’s money.
Now here director introduces some incidents where Uttam chaudhary forgets several things. Family takes it as normal incidents which happen with everyone. But things worsen when he forgets big matters like he had retired and his wife had died some years ago. He is suffering from some disease which may be Dementia or Alzheimer’s. Tension is in the air and viewer can feel it in Urmila’s eye’s. Her work suffers; even her personal life suffers when her boyfriend ditches her due to her father’s disease. Even his own brother addy wants him to be put in some old age home or mental asylum. Current doctor could not diagnosis the disease. Things get out of control when the disease gets interwoven with his childhood trauma related to Mahatma Gandhi’s death. He thinks he had murdered Gandhiji.
On this critical and unsolvable stage we witness entry of a new doctor Siddarth Kothari(Parvin Dabas ) who takes this case as a personal challenge and helps trishaa who is fighting single-handedly with his father’s disease. Addy gets restless and impatient and calls elder brother Ronu to take hold of the situation. As there is no cure for the disease Dr. Kothari proposes a very innovative and experimental method to solve the problem. To bring professor out the guilt due to childhood trauma, he proposes a full-fledged courtroom drama with the help of professional theatre artists and family members. Initially everybody resists the idea but finally it is agreed by all as it is the last hope.
And the drama succeeds. At the end of the drama professor is almost cure but with one more revelation of the his grief about society losing Gandhi’s idealism. Director has continued with the art of peeling layers of psyche of ageing man in the whole film. There is lecture at the end by this aggrieved professor that society had just made Gandhi a symbol on notes and coins; who is just remembered on 2nd oct and jan 30, but his teachings of non-violence, tolerance, truth, honesty, simplicity, integrity of character etc are no more followed. Some people may find the lecture and court-room drama very theatrical and verbose, but I feel it was necessary to convey director’s point.
Urmila and Anupam Kher has given flawless performances exploring plethora of emotions and fine nuances of acting. Urmila is getting more and sharper with each film. About Anupam kher he was already near to perfection in his first film Saaransh. If he gets right script and director he delivers nothing less than marvel. All other actors/actresses did there part well even in small roles.
With the background music Bappi Lahiri surprises. He helps in setting right mood of the film. Cinematography is very lyrical yet real telling many things without dialogues. Dialogues themselves are timed correctly with balanced amount in tone and quantity, though its not same in court-room drama but it can be excused.
This film explores several things and gives many messages without being too judgmental or verbose. It questions about our treatment of our senior citizens, when even family members take them as burden. It motivates us not to lose hope in most difficult situations. Verbally its stated as the favorite poem of professor, “ Koshish karne waloon ki haar nahi hoti….”. It talks about the meanness and hollowness of society where a guy breaks relationship just because her fiancée’s father is suffering from mental disease.
Conclusively I will say film has everything soul, body and clothes. Its one of those films which should not be missed