There’s no way one can miss the movie which stars Naseeruddin Shah and given that the trailers released show such dynamic bond between him and Kalki Koechlin, there was never a doubt to dodge this movie around. I am a crazy fan for some drama(bored with money minting movies) and one that rolls in such a versatile actor but made me go bonkers and made this movie to be my weekend movie goal.
It is really an awe-inspiring story coming from Director Anu Menon, who is just one-film-old and able to portray this soothing tale of love, loss and about surviving life’s catastrophic events.
Shiv(Naseeruddin Shah) lives in Kochi with his 40-year-old wife Pankaja(Suhasini Maniratnam) who is in comatose state for last 8 months after a massive stroke. Her doctors have told Shiv to give up on the hope of her recovery. But he is still holding on to the last string of hope by reading medical journals those feature miracles about how people wake up from coma even after years.
Tara(Kalki Koechlin) is a fiercely independent girl and free-spirited who elopes with her boyfriend Rajat(Arjun Mathur) and is now living a newly-wedded bride bliss. But her world turns upside down when Rajat meets with an accident on his way to work and slips into coma due to severe brain injury.
Tara meets Shiv in a hospital waiting room where they begin their journey of self-discovery and become friends. This story is about how these two people come together and get tied in a bond which gives them the strength to grow through and accept the consequences that lies further ahead.
Will Tara and Shiv ever come around the thought of losing their loved ones? This is what makes the whole essence of the movie and you got to watch it(no spoilers review).
There are scenes that shine at you through the gloom, like one in the hospital parking lot, where Shiv and Tara are having heated discussion about their respective spouses. How can you decide if they want to live like vegetable or just die? Can anyone take decision of someone’s life? Shiv breaks the argument by saying Tara to stop killing her husband. It literally has the glass shattering effect while caught in the moment.
Menon’s narrative plays mostly on the generation gap between Shiv and Tara, shown effectively how they both think when it comes to same situations and both have different outlook towards it.
The shallowness of today’s generation gets highlighted when Tara says that she has 1000 friends on FB and 5000 followers on Twitter, yet she is alone in her ordeal and no one to understand her plight.
Towards the second half movie lags, but who cares. But the thinly scripted screenplay poses to be a problem, and movie just becomes little artificial and dragged on. I couldn’t get the handle on or get full sense of Shiv and Tara as they are always talking in clichés.
Talking about performances, Kalki wins you over with her expressive and motivating performance. She is shrill and with her running mascara and heightened makeup garnishes her high-pitched tone character. But all thanks to Naseeruddin Shah who effortlessly sails through this thin writing and portrays Shiv with dignity and serenity. Well, that can only come from actor with his talent and calibre.
Waiting was really worth waiting for, to enjoy that stellar performances and breaking the old Bollywood masala entertainer norm. This should definitely go down on your movies-to-watch-this-weekend list.
My Rating: 3.5/5