Shah Shanked

We skipped past quite a few English and French movie titles.  We were about to give up when we spotted an Indian movie in the suggestions.

I have no patience for three-hour song-and-dance melodrama of movies from India, whatever the language might be.  I am yet to recover from the painful experience from a few years ago when I watched one because of a friend's suggestion.  She now owes me big time for having made me suffer!

But then I spotted Naseeruddin Shah's face.  

I still remember him as Albert Pinto, from back when I was a proud commie sympathizer.  A few years ago, we watched him as a magical chef in Aasif Manndvi's Today's Special. So, yes, Shah's face is all I needed to be convinced to watch Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi.

A few minutes into the movie, it was clear that Shah was not the main character but was making a guest appearance.  I was trapped by false advertising! 

The movie seemed like it was more suited for live theatre than as a cinematic experience.  While I lack any expertise, as a fan of live theatre and movies, I know the difference when I watch them.  The rather simple plot of family dynamics after the death of the patriarch lacked the layers that I expect from a movie that features Naseeruddin Shah.

I was reminded of the couple of Anton Chekov's plays that I have watched.  They are about people, families, and the humans that we all are, which then means that the play is like life itself--a mix of good times and bad, and good hearts and evil.  Chekov doesn't point fingers at a bad person; instead, the bad apple is very much a part of the orchard as the good ones are.  (Did I play enough on Chekov's The Cherry Orchard?)

I loved Chekov's Uncle Vanya so much that I quoted from it in my first ever commentary on higher education that was not in a newspaper.  The quote won me favors with a colleague who was an English professor, but nobody else seemed to care.

This Hindi movie, too, did not present anybody as the wicked and evil person, but portrayed them as humans with flaws.  However, a Chekov play it was not!

After the movie ended, it was time to find out more about the movie.  Wikipedia informed me that the movies was indeed based on a play.

Turns out that the actor who played the role of the youngest daughter-in-law is the daughter of Aparna Sen. 

I was reminded of Sen's wonderful movie, 36 Chowringhee Lane, which I watched as a teenager.  I was impressed with every aspect of the movie.  About how the story was told. About the story itself.  And about the director being a woman!

Has India forgotten how to make quality movies?