10 January,2021 07:06 AM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
A still from Sir
I recall actor-director Rahul Bose once making a unique distinction between art-house and mainstream cinema, which he reckoned was essentially in the story being told. If you can totally predict what's going to happen next, it's the comforting mainstream; if you can't, it's art-house.
Such a definition would, of course, render a lot of movies that we consider mainstream as actually art-house - likewise, the reverse. Which isn't to suggest at any moment that good and bad movies are exclusive to either. There are lots of terrible and amazing films in both.
That said, Rohena Gera's stolid, competent directorial debut Sir, strictly as per Bose's definition, is very much art-house! You cannot tell what's going to happen next, even when seemingly precious little does - although only seemingly so. Speaking of which, it's also the kind of movie Bose himself would have slipped into the lead role in, with utmost ease, a decade ago.
Of a young, rich professional, raised on family wealth in South Bombay, who returns to India, after a fairly deracinating stay/experience abroad (America, to be more precise). That objective distance helps him gently, subconsciously observe the world he left behind anew.
Especially aspects to do with his female house-help, who's always around. Sure, given Bose, you could even imagine Konkona Sensharma pulling off the female lead with equal élan.
But, as with the point the film's trying to swiftly drive home, never does it once border on the cliché - whether in the casting for parts, or indeed casting a keen eye on the issue of class itself.
In that sense, Sir is dramatically opposite to Zoya Akhtar's short film in Lust Stories - that brutally laid bare the victim and the oppressor (house owner and the house help) - similarly set in a Bombay high-rise.
Of course Tillotama Shome brilliantly plays the domestic help here, which is the debut role most film buffs will still remember her from Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (2001)! You can still not find a single common note between the two performances. There is god-like authenticity here; not that it wasn't there.
Vivek Gomber, in the same way, completely transforms himself from the middle-aged lawyer from his acting debut, Chaitanya Tamhane's Court (2014), to a level that you can't recognise him anymore.
Between these two actors plays out a steady script that, on the face of it, is a study in contrasts. What could possibly be common between a Marathi maid, and the suave, urbane SoBo dude she's employed with?
Well, both the guy and the girl are extremely quiet as personalities, yes. And in that quietness and immense space between them, develops a bond/relationship that makes this subtle film - in its lines, lighting, camera and drama - a deeply rewarding experience, to start with.
He's low - having given up on a lot of things he loves. Privilege in a certain way inhibits his life, actually. A life in the city for her, on the other hand - away from the claustrophobic clusters of a village - is wholly liberating! There's something to aspire for.
Without making much of a fuss, just following the movements of time, Gera manages to capture these parallel lives, right at the intersection - inhabiting two separate worlds, within the same.
For, here's the most essential part - these two live together. Under more equal circumstances, they'd be flat-mates! And, in upper-class Indian homes, you would've noticed (or not, which is the point), the ones who serve, remain invisible forever.
Like, you could literally have a domestic-help all day, and feel like you've been home alone - share space with someone for years, and know nothing about them, while they've had access to everything about you. It's strange, and I don't know if as true for other inherently feudal cultures still.
Up until half an hour into this film, with only two characters in an apartment, the fact that the young house owner Ashwin (Gomber) even briefly/cursorily notices that his full-time employee/flat-mate Ratna (Shome) could be upset about something, seems a miracle!
These first 30 minutes only provide vague clues/hints for what's in store in the final 30. In between is a movie that tells you a lot, about you, and me.
