Rating : 4.3/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2022
Running time : 1 hour 39 minutes
Director : Rohena Gera
Cast : Tilotama Shome, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni
Kidwise : PG-13
I’m watching a Tillotama Shome film after a long, long time. I remember her vaguely from Monsoon Wedding. In this sweet love story about the class divide, she is absolutely wonderful to watch.
Ratna (Shome) is a maid at US-returned-bachelor Ashwin’s posh apartment, having being placed there via his mother. Ratna and Ashwin (Gomber) interact, but only fleetingly so. He is the son of the richie-rich upper classes while she is a poor, village-born widow who has daringly come to the city because she felt suffocated in her village. The romance begins through small, little gestures, a smile here, a look there, a token of appreciation given and received. Ashwin is what Ratna calls a “bhala manus” – a good man, but the class divide is unsurmountable for the both of them. Or is it?
Sir is so moving because of the excellent characterization – especially Ratna’s. She comes from an indigent background but values the hard-fought privileges she has – the right to live and work independently, an education and her ultimate goal of having a legitimate career. She has very little to call her own, and treasures every little step she takes towards her goals. There is a scene in the film where she returns to her little, windowless room in Ashwin’s flat after a shopping trip, sits down on her mattress and takes out each small purchase one by one, caressing each item and laying it down before her, savoring the moment and smiling to herself. That scene left me teary-eyed.
Sir is a lovely, moving film and very much worth the watch for Ratna’s story.
On the romance side, the film just about works. The two are on different sides of the massive class divide, and the film really goes into the depths of what this means in everyday terms. Ashwin is massively priviliged and the power balance is completely on his side. Ratna lives in his home and her primary job is to serve him. Gestures of romance are relatively easy for him, and without repercussions – an expensive purchase, an expressed desire. For Ratna, the romance threatens everyting – her place in society, the relationship with her family, her very livelihood should things go wrong.
Director Rohena Gera tells this story mostly from Ratna’s point-of-view. When she waits on Ashwin she is the hardworking servant, seen but rarely heard. When she is out of the home or interacting with her family and friends we really see her as a person. Ashwin keeps to his area of the home, and she retires to her cramped servant’s quarter when her work is done. Their paths cross when he requires food, cleaning etc.
The onset of romance is very nicely built-up – the tension-filled silences between the two lengthen as Ratna sets the table, a sudden awkwardness descends as he comes into the kitchen on some mundane task. I’m all for the romance, but I’m rooting primarily for Ratna and her dreams. While Ashwin is indeed portrayed as a good man – and Gomber does well here (quite a far cry from Lata’s smarmy Anglicised brother in A Suitable Boy) – it is quite telling of his privilege in life when he only sees her as a dignity-deserving human being after he develops feelings for her. He is offended that she sits on the floor eating with the other servants. He wants her to travel with him and not with the group of servants. He asks her to not call him “Sir”, but by his name.
Fantastic performances all around. Shome is a spectacular actress, and Gomber is pretty good too. I’m delighted to see Geetanjali Kulkarni as Laxmi – you might remember her from the marvelous Taj Mahal 1989. The ending is a tad weak but this is still a lovely, moving film is very much worth the watch for Ratna’s story. The romance is but secondary to the woman.
Kidwise: A couple of scenes with intimacy/kissing etc.
