“Gulabo Sitabo”: A different kind of film.

By Kavita A Chhibber

I saw “Gulabo Sitabo” late last night. This is a movie that will probably receive conflicting reviews.

I loved it.

The film revolves around a crotchety and petty old man, Mirza (played with brilliant nuance by Amitabh Bachchan) and his obsession with his begum’s historic haveli, Fatima Mahal, named after her. Along with Mirza live a bunch of tenants and outsiders interested in it for all the wrong reasons.

The skirmishes between them all, and the portrayal of lives and moments that exist outside of celluloid too, make this movie worth a watch.

There are dreams, there is love and loss, frustrations, cunning and devious schemes, greed, pettiness and ultimately all that is wrong with the world being righted through an unexpected twist. It’s all there along with a moral: Cheaters never prosper.

It’s an out and out #Amitabh Bachchan film. The minute eye for detail, the prosthetics that took 4 to 5 hours everyday, are just the right accessories for this brilliant actor to show his well honed craft.

I honestly could not take my eyes off him, in every frame. Just incredible.
I want to see this film again just to look at his interpretation of this character more carefully.

It takes guts and humility to be a side kick in a film that really belongs to Bachchan and that’s why I like #Ayushmann Khurrana so much. He plays Bankey, the tenant Mirza loves to hate the most.

Both are constantly at loggerheads, adding to Bankey’s life struggles.

He didn’t have a whole lot to do in “Badhai Ho” either, but Ayushmann is like Irrfan Khan – an actor who looked at the big picture. His is probably the only one dimensional, predictable role in this film and I think the only one that could have perhaps been more multi-layered.

An angry young man who has to support a gaggle of sisters plus a mother, can never make rent. Bankey becomes a punching bag for almost everyone – Mirza, his girlfriend and many other tenants. Finally in the end, he develops a grudging camaraderie with Mirza brought about by mutual misfortune.

The cameos played by the actors in smaller roles are brilliant – Mirza’s foxy begum Fatima (Farrukh Jafar) and Vijay Raaz as Gyanesh Shukla, a greed driven govt official, are splendid in their roles. Brijendra Kalra plays a not-so-straight lawyer named Christopher Clark. Shristi Srivastava as Guddo, the sassy sister of Bankey, is just outstanding.

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Each character is a portrait in itself, painted with a brush of myriad colors and yet its flawed perfection is engaging.

I love films directed by #Shoojit Sircar – “Piku” and”Vicky Donor” among them. “Gulabo Sitabo” is no exception.

You just need a different kind of eye, for this different kind of film.