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There were three releases in an overcrowded scenario last week. Each was a worthwhile watch in its own way. The fourth release, Haunted 3D Echoes of the Past, took the box-office lead, but had shoddy marketing (the premiere invitation directly clashed with one of the other three press screenings!), no press screening and distant theatres on release: a major concern in a sprawling metropolis like Mumbai.
Main Vaapas Aaunga
Main Vaapas Aaunga is easily the pick of last week, an Imtiaz Ali directorial that maintains his creative return withAmar Singh Chamkila (2024) after a prolonged phase of hyped work and total calamities. His exemplary beginnings were Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met.
Ishar Singh Grewal (Naseeruddin Shah), all of 90-plus, suffers from dementia, but as is always the case, remembers the past graphically. His teenage and early were spent in Sargodha, now in Pakistan. Known then as Keenu (Vedang Raina), this Sikh young man had promised undying love for Afsana (Sharvari), a Muslim. When Partition forced his clan to leave for India, he told her he would be back (Main Vaapas Aaunga) for her. But life had other plans and Afsana as well as he had to marry others, she in Pakistan and he in India.
Ishar’s grandson, Nirvair (Diljit Dosanjh), a software professional, helps his grandad realize his incomplete ambition, and how he does it forms the rest of this cute, feel-good story of three generations yearning for love beyond the hatred they faced in the past after Partition.
The script laces humor, cuteness and praiseworthy family emotions along the way, also stressing on the untold horrors of how normal people were affected, families destroyed and innate human goodness mercilessly challenged in those days of massive trauma and their ongoing effects. Naseeruddin Shah and Diljit Dosanjh are superlative, matched also by Vedang Raina and Sharvari.
Imtiaz Ali is in form and firm command, and Irshad Kamil’s lyrics and the technical values fantastic. A.R. Rahman’s music disappoints big-time.
The Silent Saviour Governor
In 1991, India was on the verge of bankruptcy and the political leaders brought in an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer, S. Venkitaramanan, known to have a knack for economics, as the governor of the all-important Reserve Bank of India to save the country. Shown here as Ramanan (Manoj Bajpayee) with the bank name Rashtriya Bank of India, the quite genius spares no effort or strategy to pull out all strings and finally succeeded.
A minority government, a caretaker prime minister and other challenges forced India to take help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with the Gulf War between US and Iraq worsening the issue, and the country had to undertake drastic measures, including pledging a significant portion of India’s gold reserves (over 60 tons) to the Bank of England and the Union Bank of Switzerland.
Happily, India came out of the crisis within months, and this was the beginning of India’s globalization, which for that time, had its pluses as well as minuses as the economy opened up. Director Chinmay D. Mandlekar of Inspector Zendefame handles the show with restraint, focusing more on the person and turns it into a kind of biopic, hence the title. The final result is edutainment, a shade dry in some aspects, more than a tad ‘filmi’ on occasion, but an engaging history lesson all the same.
Manoj Bajpayee is perfect in the role of Ramanan, and as the deputy governor, Noushad Mohamed Kunju is a natural. Jaywant Wadkar as Patil the peon and Paritosh Sand as the Department of External Investments and Operations headSharma are excellent.
Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata
During Mumbai’s 26/11 terror attacks, the nurses and staff at the city’s Cama & Albless Hospital, which was under siege by two gunmen armed with AK-47s, went above and beyond the call of duty to save the lives of patients, ranging from the aged to the newborns, as well as pregnant women, despite mortal risks to their lives.
This is the harrowing saga of the horrors of Mumbai’s 26/11 terror attacks, focusing this time on the relentless dedication of the nurses and staff at the hospital, which was under siege by two gunmen armed with AK-47s.
Newbie writer-director Manoj Tapadia’s attempt to show the valiant selflessness of the staff (as not only patients but also men and women who had sought refuge in the hospital premises had to be protected) is quite gripping. Tapadia goes a little off-target in his enthusiasm to extol the nurses, not only because it is some of the security staff who actually lose their lives but there are no doctors around either—something completely unreal given the fact that the terrorists came unannounced and the hospital was a major institution.
The families of the three protagonists—Gita (Kangana Ranaut), Sheetal (Girija Oak Godbole) and Smita (Trupti Takle) also are shown and just as in Main Vaapas Aaunga, the impacts of that fateful day are re-created with compassionate care as well as pitch-perfect impending dangers. The film begins a month later, with Gita being asked to identify Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist who was captured and later hanged, as he was one of the two who had attacked the hospital and she had seen him even as she was hiding.
The performances in general are outstanding and Gita’s final speech as she is applauded by colleagues on the sanctity of her profession further lifts the film.
Ratings:
Main Vaapas Aaunga: ****
Applause Entertainment’s, Birla Studios’ & Window Seat Films’ Main Vaapas Aaunga Produced by: Sameer Nair, Deepak Segal, Mohit Choudhary & Shibhasish Sarkar Directed by: Imtiaz Ali Written by: Imtiaz Ali & Nayanika Mahtani Music: A.R. Rahman Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Diljit Dosanjh, Vedang Raina, Sharvari, Rajat Kapoor, Sanjay Suri, Banita Sandhu & others
The Silent Saviour Governor: ***1/2
Sunshine Pictures’ The Silent Saviour Governor Produced by: Vipul Amrutlal Shah Directed by: Chinmay D. Mandlekar Written by: Suvendu Bhattacharjee, Saurabh Bharat, Ravi Asrani & Vipul Amrutlal Shah Music: Mannan Shaah Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Madhoo Shah, Paritosh Sand, Noushad Mohamed Kunju, Jaywant Wadkar & others
Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata: ***1/2
Pen Studios’, Manikarnika Films’, Paramhans Creations’, Eunoia Films’ & Floating Rocks Entertainment’s Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata Produced by: Kangana Ranaut, Babita Ashiwal, Shailesh R. Singh, Dhaval Gada & Adi Sharmaa Written and Directed by: Manoj Tapadia Music: Krsna Solo & Aman Pant Starring: Kangana Ranaut, Girija Oak, Smita Tambe, Esha Dey, Prasad Oak, Sayaji Shinde, Amruta Namdev, Preiya Berde, Zahid Khan, Aditya Mishra, Sushama Deshpande, Asha Shelar, Suhita Thatte, Rasika Agashe, Vitthal Kale & others.
