Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota... we see the 9/11 tragedy from an Indian’s perspective. 4(5) strangers come together to share the same fate and only a misplaced ticket makes all the difference between life and death.
Tillotama(Konkona Sen Sharma) is a newly married woman who is waiting to join her husband Hemant( Jimmy Shergil). Her mother in law and mentally unstable sister in law create a living hell for her so much so that she acquires a tourist visa by lying that she is unmarried to go to the US.
Konkona excels again. Especially in the scenes when she speaks with her husband on phone and her heated exchanges with her mother in law. Just watch her reaction closely when she loses her boarding pass.
Rajubhai(Paresh Rawal) is an organiser of shows and he manages to take his daughter abroad along with the rest of the troupe. Ratna Pathak Shah acts as his old sweetheart, Tara. Paresh does a very good job. Watch him out in the sensitive scenes, when Ratna Pathak comes to his home with an itchy hand or when he sees his daughter singing in the Visa office.
Rahul Bhide (Ankur Khanna) confronts the ethical dilemma of whether or not to leave his ailing father to pursue higher studies in medicine in America.
After his demise, Khusboo (Ayesha Takia) convinces Rahul to try and acquire the Visa. He succeeds and in his last moments he calls Khusboo from the plane just to hear her voice.
Stockbroker Salim (Irfan Khan) flees the country to avoid being arrested in the murder case of a DCP Paul( Boman Irani).
Salim ends up on the 95th Floor of WTC on that fateful day which is not faithful to him. He sees with wide eyes death crashing on him.
An extraordinary story about ordinary lives, good dialogues, camera work and crisp editing...kudos to Naseeruddin Shah on his directorial debut.
Treat in the movie: Konkona
Weak point: Aged yet agile dancer Suhasini Mule and Salim’s love affair.
Best point: The shocking denouement
Winning traits: lack of sensationalism, brilliant story telling
Reminds me of: The story telling is very similar to Khaled Mohammad’s ’Silsilay’, another good movie which went pretty much unnoticed.
Yun hota...the title in itself will make you think. The stories are hardly stories but slices of life. It compels you to imagine it could have been ’you’. There is not a mention of terrorism because it tries to concentrate on the tragedy of human life, how things can go wrong in just 1 instant. Broken dreams and irony of fate !