Mr. & Mrs. IYER
Director: Aparna Sen
Starring Rahul Bose, Konkona Sensharma, Bhisham Sahni, Surekha Sikri, Anjan Dutt, Esha Chauhan, and Bharat Kaul
Music: Zakir Hussain
The Story of a conservative married Tamil Brahmin lady and a liberal Muslim from West Bengal falling in love over a frightening journey back home!
Mrs.Meenakshi Iyer ( Konkona) w/o Mr.Subramaniam Iyer, pure vegetarian, father in law is an endocrinologist apart from being a real dragon on phone, mother of nearly one year old kid-Santanam Iyer (Santanam is the other name for a Lord-Tambram’s love those Gods’ and Goddesses’ names-but hey-Nandita aint a Godesses’ name).
Mr.Jahangir Chowdhary (Rahul) - liberal Muslim- wildlife photographer, travel enthusiast, from West Bengal, non-vegetarian- Raja for short- who feels Santanam is too formal a name for a 1 year old kid-prefers calling him Santa !
Meenakshi is travelling to Calcutta with her kid by bus where she meets Raja, who is a real help with her wailing baby. The other passengers more or less represent most of India- an old Muslim couple, a mother with her mentally challenged son, , a newly wedded couple, vacationing college kids , a Jew and two Sikhs, an irate old widow- all these along with Meenakshi and Raja.
Communal riots break on- midway, the bus to halt because of the curfew declared. Extremists get into the bus to pick out and kill the Muslim passengers. Fear grips all the people as the terrorists ask people their names, confirming the suspicious looking men-by seeing if they have undergone a circumcision- a frightened Jew for the fear of his own life gives away the old Muslim couple, who are dealt with mercilessly. The only remains of the couple being the dentures and their broken box lying by the rivulet, grinning mockingly at our humanness, his spectacles thrown aside along with the dentures.
On being questioned, Meenakshi promptly labels Raja as Mr.Iyer convincingly to the terrorists who spare him. They are stranded there for two days in the Himalayan foothills, where a police officer kind-heartedly directs Mr.and Mrs Iyer to a guest house nearby-where they can stay until they can resume the route to Calcutta. Meenakshi finds it awkward, spending the night with an after-all unknown Muslim guy even though he is decency personified. Raja does everything to make mother and son comfortable at his own inconveniences, wins over Meenakshi’s faith and gentle love, where she slowly overcomes her racial prejudices, warms to his thoughtful gestures.
A gruesome murder of a Muslim witnessed by Meenakshi – through the lens in the darkness leaves her much shaken and terrified. Raja lends her the much needed soothing and pacifying and she cuddles to his warmth and strength like an innocent child and the love’s candle silently lights up in the midst of flames of violence and bloodshed.
The next morning, the police officer arranges an army van to drop them off to the station where they board the train for Calcutta. The train journey shows more sensitive, quiet and romantic moments between the couple.
The destination is finally reached when the couple parts ways probably never to meet again, as though nothing ever happened other than this MUSLIM gentleman chivalrously helping out a Tambram damsel and her son in distress.
In my opinion…..
A most beautifully orchestrated symphony, each character striking the perfect note, dialogues so simple and yet so rich, each scene tightly woven into the fabric of the movie, background scores, both Indian folk and Western meshed with the awesome cinematography- in short a most wholesome, satisfying experience of having watched a classy English movie made by an Indian. This is a movie you could watch with your firangi friends and be so proud that its made by Indians.
Absolutely natural “Tambram” performance by Konkana (ask me coz I am one and I know how a typical behaves……she fits it to the T ), am not sure if this was her debut, but if it was, then all kudos to her! Her manner of talking, walking, drinking water wthout touching her lips to the Bisleri bottle, kajal lined eyes that speak when she is quiet, the small line of vibhuti (ash) above her maroon Bindi, the delicate sounds of her anklets, her bashfulness at being left alone with a relatively unknown Raja at the forest rest house, the innocence with which she snuggles in Raja’s arms when she gets terrified at witnessing a killing, the tenderness with which she overcomes her shyness and rests her head on Raja’s shoulder, the quiet passion with which she brings her face close to Raja’s to steal a kiss in the train (that doesn’t happen ofcourse)- are all things to watch out for !!
Rahul Bose- An extremely remarkable performance- quiet, no-nonsense, intense, sensitive character . Plays Mr.Iyer with elan, his dialogue rendering with that delightful accent and those stunning looks to his advantage. He suits the role absolutely well. His expressions and body language are all that he uses to reveal his adoration for Meenakshi. This is one actor to watch for in future. (I am going to catch him in Jhankaar Beats this week)
In short, one of the “bestest” movies made in India in recent times. If you haven’t watched this- you sure have missed something wonderful. Just go rent a CD, hunt for a theatre that’s screening this-or catch the repeat telecast on Star Movies-such a marvelous work of art is rare to come by. Hats off to Aparna Sen.
As she puts it, ’’Nothing brings out the poignancy of love more than when it’s pitted against the ruthlessness of war.’’