'Gulmohar' movie review: A moving feast!

Movie name GulmoharOn Disney HotstarDirector Rahul V ChittellaActors Manoj Bajpayee Sharmila TagoreRating 35I love the fact that this film pretty much begins with a song set in a large living room with several guests feasting over drinks while a livesinger Talat Aziz as a family friend plays the musicEveryone joins in impromptukaraoke or breaks into a gentle dance This is a song genre as old as the starsystem in Bollywood And you could make a full playlist of tracks with the same settingpurpose with your favourite on topMine is lsquoHuzoor is kadarrsquo from Masoom 1982mdashpersonally choreographed by the actors Naseeruddin Shah Saeed Jaffrey on screen Set in a Delhi drawing roomAs is Gulmohar Although as a movie in the same city this is probably closer to the other Naseer starrer Monsoon Wedding 2001 wherein Manoj Bajpayee plays the affectionately ageing father in a family of rich Punjabis of South Delhi So letrsquos just call it Manojsoon Wedding okay letrsquos notThe Batras are the Suris here What you instantly imagine of these Dilli business folk selfmade in the first generation is they wouldrsquove moved as refugees during Partition perhaps and built life anewmdashoffering their following generations enough privilege to deal in first world problems subsequentlyThe family in this film comes from Jamshedpur Multiple generations reside in a posh mansion that the patriarch left behind Therersquos clearly space for all in the housemdashenough that the current daddy Bajpayee believes everyone lives too parallel a life Including in fact his old mother Sharmila TagoreThat the Lutyensrsquo bungalow is now on sale to realestate developers whorsquod expectedly build multiple highrises in the same compound we find three generationsmdashbetween grandmom Tagore son Bajpayee his wife and childrenmdashpotentially going their own directions once the joint family dissolves simultaneouslyFrankly you canrsquot fault the filmrsquos premisemdashitrsquos got a lot of commentary already built into it Outside of the Batras there is another semivisible world of domestic staffmdashcook cleaner watchmanmdashservicing this first world that the camera aims its gaze on And this is where the settings and the characters feel more as if under a gaze rather than naturally convincing or authenticIn fact even for the portrayal of Delhirsquos supposedly stiffupperlip St Stephenrsquos upperclass itrsquos cool to see how the daughterinlaw Simran Bagga and motherinlaw Tagore who is 76 went to the same said college Except that between 1949 and 1975 Stephenrsquos did not admit women and therersquos no way Tagorersquos character couldrsquove enrolled any time before or afterBajpayeersquos character is from ldquoacross from the roadrdquo as in Hindu College Education might matter here a lirsquol bit because the family runs the venerable ldquoDelhi Press founded in 1975rdquo The Naths run that actual company founded in 1939 with the erudite Caravan magazine I know these absolutely random facts are pointed out purely for funmdashtheyrsquore called funfactsEither way class generation age and gender are arguably the only real divides in the worldmdashbaaki sab rest politics To weave a story sincerelysimply shotexecuted with several threads exploring all three gives Gulmohar the legs to stand on as a script written with care director Rahul Chittella Arpita Mukherjee and indeed with performers on the spotSpeaking of which in Gulmohar you just to wish to see more of her meaning the gentle Tagore of course Even when she talks in a twang so resolutely elite Delhi yet so politecalm that it can be annoying sometimesmdashthere is grace she brings to the screen that only comes with age I guessI felt the same about another Satyajit Ray actor Soumitra Chatterjee in some of his later filmsmdashin particular the underrated equally engaging family story Belasheshe 2015 Essential to mention also that Hindi cinemarsquos lsquoSoumitrorsquo Amol Palekar the lsquo70s Indian middleclass hero plays a wily part hereYoursquod think Bajpayee would stand out as far being a Batra after all Well therersquos adequate backstory for it too Beyond that as the staractor in the more satisfying second innings of his careermdashtherersquos nothing that Bajpayee does that you donrsquot root for him to win the partpictureaudience absolutely Hersquos out there for the same purposeSo is the entire cast in this ensemble picture Many such films have disappeared from public memory mainly because they lacked the heft of famous faces on screen to bring audiences inToo many such One that comes to mind right away because I saw it being discussed online is Tu Hai Mera Sunday 2017 Gulmohar has aptly premiered on a popular OTT platform waiting for your Sunday Just press play you donrsquot even have to go for itAlso ReadExclusive Talat Aziz on working with Sharmila Tagore in Gulmohar to playing Hrithik Roshans father in Fighter

'Gulmohar' movie review: A moving feast!

Movie name: Gulmohar
On: Disney+ Hotstar
Director: Rahul V Chittella
Actors: Manoj Bajpayee, Sharmila Tagore
Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / 'Gulmohar' movie review: A moving feast!

'Gulmohar' movie review: A moving feast!

Movie name: GulmoharOn: Disney+ HotstarDirector: Rahul V ChittellaActors: Manoj Bajpayee, Sharmila TagoreRating: 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Movie name: Gulmohar
On: Disney+ Hotstar
Director: Rahul V Chittella
Actors: Manoj Bajpayee, Sharmila Tagore
Rating: 3/5