"UDAAN"- flight to next generation!

Watched "UDAAN" last weekend and finally completing the review. Worth every min, spent in savoring it! And I thought parallel Hindi cinema with a message to society was fading away fast except for those infrequent attempts by Shyam Benegal/Vishal Bharadwaj/Anurag Kashyap! This is a brilliantly done movie, stirring the raw emotions and harsh realities of a teenager and dishing it on a canvas for everyone of all age group to enjoy.

The Movie:
This movie is about a teenager, Rohan Singh, played by young Rajat Barmecha. The silent yet "expressive-thru-the-eyes" boy, studying in a boarding school in Shimla, is matured well beyond his years, thanks to his extremely strict and non-challant father, Bhairav Singh (played by Ronit Roy) who has sent his son to boarding school after the death of his wife/Rohan's mother and never met his son for the last 8 years. The movie starts with Rohan and his 3 ardent friends getting expelled from school after getting caught red-handed by the hostel warden watching a "not-so-nice" movie (named- Kantishah ke angoor). Hence, he has to skeptically make his way back to his father's home, ending his education prematurely! Nice to notice in this scene is the personal touch of the "Head-D", who after expelling Rohan also apologizes to him knowing Rohan's background & wondering about what future has in store for him!
 
On returning home, Rohan is greeted by 2 strangers- his father, who is absolutely seething with anger on his son's explusion and a surprise 6-yr Arjun, half-brother to Rohan, whose mother was married to Rohan's Dad and apparently the second fling also ended in disaster but resulted in an offspring- all without Rohan's knowledge! There is instant dislike between these two brothers (though mostly from the elder) as they share the same room, bed and cubboard which used to be solely Rohan's before he left for boarding! The movie then progresses on how the lives of father and sons changes from bad to worse and how the brothers slowly develop their brotherhood between them. Our protoagonist is clearly cut-out to be a poet, a novelist, a writer- he has all the ingredients which promises to make him an extraordinary writer, one whose pen is matured well beyond his years, who mesmerizes audience of all age group with his inpromtu story telling and brings a tear to the eye with his deeply painstakingly heavy innuendos on life! But his father is completely against it- He wants his son to work in his factory during the AM and study in the second half to become an "Engineer", the conventional archetypal profession in life!
 
Though the boy has a support system in his uncle, Jimmy (brilliantly played by Ram Kapoor), it's the ditch attempt of the boy's coming to terms with his father's demands which is worth seeing! Every scene portrays the pain wherein he yearns to do what his heart desires versus what he has to do, since his father still "owns" him and his dreams, per se! The time he spends in the green pastoral fields, in front of the lakes dreaming and writing his thoughts, shows the passion of pursuing his dream! Unfortunately, he flunks (according to his best laid plans) in his 1st semester exams which triggers his father to burn his most cherished thing- book of memoirs where he pens his thoughts and pours his heart! Things eventually boil down to an extent where Bhairav Singh tries to justify his anger and frustrations in life to the fact that he is a "forced" bachelor. Hence he makes the pivotal decision of remarrying (3rd time) to bring back sanity in his life (and not just to satisfy his libido!), simultaneously deciding that Arjun has to go to boarding school (and relive Rohan's life) and Rohan gets to be the full-time worker in the factory!

Rohan ponders about this long and hard, takes in a couple of extra shots of liquor to wash down his mind demons and decides that enough is enough! He first totals his Dad's car (I felt this was quite symbolic- first signs of breaking free from his Dad's shackles) for which he lands in jail. His father does not bail him out, so when he is released the next day, he comes back resolute in mind and simply leaves his house! The high octave of the movie is when he walks out from his father's house, with his father chasing him and he finally beats his father to their ritualistic every morning race track, this time, only in the other direction (symbolic to the final break free!).

In the last few minutes of the movie, he gets to his uncle's house, lies low for a day, pondering and deciding the next steps. He then goes back to his father's house, this time only to pick up his brother before his Dad parcels Arjun to Rohan's life! He leaves a note to his Dad, where he writes to "stay away from them otherwise he would press criminal charges against the father". And the last scene is my favourite- two brothers walking away from their father's house holding their hands exuding unspoken love for each other! It's like the quintessential promise- love always wins & hatred has to fail in the end!
 

My Take:

There are 3 relationships to watch out for in this movie- Father and son, brother to brother and a boy becoming a man! Each has been portrayed with brilliance and brought to a finality!

It is quite a big dilemma for me to decide, if Arjun is the protoganist of the movie or shall I endow the credits to Rohan! This 6-yr old has probably given one of the most affluent, eloquent and sublime performance of a life-time as the younger half-brother of Rohan. Right from the scenes where he imitates their father and calls his brother "disgraceful" on losing every morning races to their Dad, to the scenes where he keeps running up and down the stairs as a messenger boy between his Dad and brother, to the scenes where he plays secretly with Rohan's superman to the scenes where he mutedly bonds with his elder brother after getting hospitalized due to his father's brutal belting.
 
Clearly, Bhairav Singh has an anger management and drinking problem. He is this insensitive harsh arrogant angry man, who is probably driven by his past harsh experience as a child who has probably suffered to live thru' his father's expectations! To sum it all, devil personified would not be too wrong a term for him. The backdrop of the movie is selected as Jamshedpur, projected as a small town with native value-systems which has not undergone the current generation revamp, hence the coarseness in family relationships and communication gap between the generations! But whatever it is, Ronit Roy as Bhairav Singh has rocked all of the 74mm screen, from beginning to end. You hate him every fraction of a moment he is on-screen and there lies the huge success as an actor! We need more of these performances, Ronit and not the typical "husband" roles of Mr. Bajaj!

And in the end, what lingers on the mind is our budding poet's lines...
"Chotti chotti chitrayi yaadein, bichi hua hai lamhein ki lawn pe,
nange pair unpad chalte chalte itni duur aa gaye hain,
ki ab bhool gaye hai ki joote kaha utarein the!"

Don't know how the box-office would react to this film, but I would want these type of movie to be made over and over again!

Cheers!