Review : Yun hota to kya hota ?

[amazon_link id=”B002YK49V0″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Above avergage (3.3/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs
Director : Naseeruddin Shah
Cast : Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal, Ayesha Takia, Jimmy Shergill, Irfan Khan, Ratna Pathak-Shah, Saroj Khan, Ravi Baswani, Boman Irani, Suhasini Mulay, Ankur Khanna, Shahana Goswami

YUN HOTA TO KYA HOTA : Na hota to achha hota !

First of let me say that I didn’t get the title. If it had been “Yun na hota to kya hota” it would have made more sense. Secondly, having watched Shah as an actor wade through innumerous cinematic parts effortlessly, I had this vision of the movie he would direct. Like when Amol Palekar directed, I KNEW that “Paheli” would be a superb film before I’d seen it or read a review. I had similar expectations with Shah. I’m a little dissapointed because I had expected so much more.

The film seems to have been trashed in all the reviews I’ve read. It’s not that bad, really. The story canvas is large, and there are lots of characters, each apparently unconnected. On top of that, each character has a story which is delved into. Quite a task it is to keep track of which character did what, etc. The story finally converges when all these characters we’ve been introduced to are affected by 9/11 .

There are 4 story tracks running in parallel ; there seemed to be a lot more when I was watching the film. The first is of a newly married woman (Konkona) trying to reach the States to be with her husband (Shergill), inspite of her mean mother-in-law (Carla Singh). The second is of a Gujrati play/entertainment producer (Rawal) who smuggles in young folk via tourist visas, and is now looking to do the same for his ex-girlfriend’s (Ratna Pathak) daughter (Shahana Goswami). Another is of a stock-broker (Irfan Khan) in trouble with the law, who although he runs away from India to the US, leaves his heart behind with two-timing, and older (in age) girlfriend Namrata (Mulay). The 4th story is about brilliant but penurious student Rahul (Ankur) going to the States for further studies with monetary help from his rich friend (Takia).

All the actors are good, but among the new ones, Ankur Khanna showed promise. Ayesha Takia has fattened up, to what I would call a “plump” stage. And Suhasini Mulay pops on screen in tights (she’s a dancer in the film), a very far cry from her sari-clad mother roles in “Sehar”, or “Dil Chahta hai”. Konkona is superb as is Rawal. Rajat Kapoor has a 2 second role as an American (??) at the US Embassy. And if you listen closely all the American accented male voices have been done by Naseeruddin Shah. Saroj Khan, best know as a choreographer, has a small role as Godmother to the stockbroker (Irfan), and does adequately.

I must applaud Shah for realistically fleshing out each of the characters. However in doing this, and going through each characters life one by one, the viewer loses the attachment to “a” protagonist, because there is not one protagonist – there are many and each seems to have equal weightage. Once you stop feeling for a protagnist, all is lost – you don’t care. Not about a character, not about the film, not about Shah, not about the fact that this is his first film and the guy deserves some slack. And that’s the flaw.

Technically the film is good (which is why it gets the above average rating). The story is interesting and well-nuanced, the actors do their job well, and the direction is decent. There is one song, I think which appears as a refrain from time to time. But the movie doesn’t come together overall – as a package. Besides that, the film moves slowly, the director moving with almost loving care to each and every character. And the climax lacks a punch to it. We know that the characters are heading for 9/11, we just don’t how the’ll be affected. This film is neither hot nor cold, it’s just tepid, tepid, tepid.