Mr & Mrs Iyer challenges your sensibilities and brings up a problem that has come to be a part of our everyday lives.
Communal riots and differences between religions have been blown out of proportions in our country by politicians (who evidently use it for their own gain) for years now. And no one seems to do anything about it except play by their rules.
People in Mumbai have seen it at close quarters during the ’93 riots and am sure others in other parts of the country have experienced it at one time or the other. Here’s a creative woman who has used her art to say something about the prevalent situation.
Mrs Iyer (played by the director’s daughter – Konkana) is travelling from her parent’s home to her in-laws with her little son (Santa). Before she can board the bus she is asked to be taken care of by an acquaintance Raja (Rahul Bose) who is a wildlife photographer.
Konkana being a Bengali went training in Chennai for two weeks to be able to get a Tamilian accent and she does a great job of it. Rahul on the other hand is as natural as natural can get. He is comfortably at ease and performs like a pro – that he is.
While in the bus, riots break out and Raja gets rechristened to Mr Iyer. The Hindu mobs are looking for any muslim passengers and Mrs Iyer saves Raja’s life by telling that he is her husband.
They are stuck in a village for another two days because of the communal violence and in turn get a chance to get close to each other.
They eventually reach the station, board the train, reach Calcutta and it is time to part ways because the real Mr Iyer is at the station to receive his wife.
The climax is a little disappointing at first ‘cause there is no end to the love story that began during Raja and Mrs Iyer. But the moral of the story that comes across is of much more relevance. All people are same and all good people help one another in times of crisis.
When in adverse situations emotions run high and one is most vulnerable … so it is just natural to need a shoulder to lean on or a hand to hold … and that could be a muslim or a hindu or a christain or a sikh … does it really matter?