Watched Kapoor & Sons over the Easter weekend.
What do I say? BW is coming of age ... the last three movies I have seen in the theatre have been great to watch ... Airlift, Neerja and now Kapoor & Sons. While the first two were biopics, lifted from real life events, K&S is fiction ... but is so close to life that when we came out of the theatre, all three of us had the same reaction ... 'this movie was so real.'
A slice of life ... the story of a dysfunctional family ... yet is it really dysfunctional? True, most of us don't have a gay son hiding his sexuality, many of us don't have a parent indulging in an extra marital affair ... at least, one hopes not. But all families have their inner conflicts, their tugs, their push and pulls, a child feeling less loved, less worthy, a child feeling the pressure of being the favorite, pressure to be 'perfect'. Most middle class couple go through financial tension and the arguments that ensue from that tension. Many families have an idiosyncratic elder member ... whose idiosyncrasies hide wisdom gained over the years ... wisdom to understand what is important, and what is not.
I think that's the beauty of this movie. Everyone can relate to some character ... at times, to more than one character ... because the characters are all real. They squabble, they bicker, they fight, they hide secrets ... yet they all pull together in the end. When Rahul's truth comes out, his mother says she never wants to see him again. Yet she misses him terribly, and when he returns, they fumble back towards their old equation without any grand apologies, any tearful reunions ... she struggles to accept his truth, but she cannot do anything but accept HIM. They are family, and that's what families do. You fight, you yell ... and the next moment you get together to celebrate a family event.
There should have been more focus on Arjun, the younger son, and his acceptance of his mother's betrayal ... that was glossed over in just one scene ... the scene where Siddharth was the weakest ... especially in front of a powerhouse performer like Ratna Pathak Shah. He was the wronged son ... his story stolen, his accomplishments always compared and found wanting as compared to his 'perfect' older brother ... his redressal wasn't addressed. Siddharth's acting was good though ... he just faltered in that one scene, otherwise he was very good right through. Must be his best performance till date.
Alia was very good in the scene where she speaks about her parents' death ... brought a lump to my throat, and a vow to never end a conversation with a fight.
Rishi Kapoor brought a smile to the face whenever he was on screen ... rowdy jovial old man, full of life, loving grandfather, non-interfering father and FIL ... he disapproved strongly of his son's affair, and of Rahul inviting the other woman ... but he let his son and DIL alone to handle their problems.
Rajat Kapoor was very good ... as he always is. Hiding his own secrets, struggling with the acceptance of his own failure, a weaker person than his wife ... he tried to make amends, but too late.
The two strongest performers were Ratna Pathak Shah and Fawad Khan.
Ratna PS ... what an actress! She was Sunita ... harried, hassled, betrayed and bitter, struggling with finances ... struggling to keep things going ... but not with a saintly all-forgiving demeanor ... she was bitter and angry, and she showed it. Yet she kept things going ... she was the glue of the family ... she made her own mistakes, she favored one son over the other, but she always tried to do her best by both and by her family.
Fawad Khan ... I thought the guy was over-rated ... I stand corrected. He was bloody brilliant. My new crush on the silver screen. A man struggling under the pressure of being the 'perfect' son, responsible, caring, mature ... yet hiding a secret which he wanted to tell his family, but was scared to. He did ask his mother to visit him, to see 'who he lived with' ... he did try to tell his brother, but Arjun fell asleep ... He was a wonderful son, ticked all the boxes, except one ... he couldn't get married and provide his mother with the grandchildren she wanted. And for a few short months, that one truth seemed to negate all his other wonderful qualities ... till his mother managed to accept the truth, and reach out to him again. A beautiful way of dealing with the issue ... understated and matter of fact ... showed both how difficult it is for a parent to accept the issue, and yet how irrelevant it can be in the larger scheme of things.
Special mention to the plumber scene ... it was hilarious, yet the underlying truth ... family secrets, family tensions, all festering inside, everyone trying to hide the cracks from the outsider, yet the cracks show ...
One of those movies I would love to watch again.
What do I say? BW is coming of age ... the last three movies I have seen in the theatre have been great to watch ... Airlift, Neerja and now Kapoor & Sons. While the first two were biopics, lifted from real life events, K&S is fiction ... but is so close to life that when we came out of the theatre, all three of us had the same reaction ... 'this movie was so real.'
A slice of life ... the story of a dysfunctional family ... yet is it really dysfunctional? True, most of us don't have a gay son hiding his sexuality, many of us don't have a parent indulging in an extra marital affair ... at least, one hopes not. But all families have their inner conflicts, their tugs, their push and pulls, a child feeling less loved, less worthy, a child feeling the pressure of being the favorite, pressure to be 'perfect'. Most middle class couple go through financial tension and the arguments that ensue from that tension. Many families have an idiosyncratic elder member ... whose idiosyncrasies hide wisdom gained over the years ... wisdom to understand what is important, and what is not.
I think that's the beauty of this movie. Everyone can relate to some character ... at times, to more than one character ... because the characters are all real. They squabble, they bicker, they fight, they hide secrets ... yet they all pull together in the end. When Rahul's truth comes out, his mother says she never wants to see him again. Yet she misses him terribly, and when he returns, they fumble back towards their old equation without any grand apologies, any tearful reunions ... she struggles to accept his truth, but she cannot do anything but accept HIM. They are family, and that's what families do. You fight, you yell ... and the next moment you get together to celebrate a family event.
There should have been more focus on Arjun, the younger son, and his acceptance of his mother's betrayal ... that was glossed over in just one scene ... the scene where Siddharth was the weakest ... especially in front of a powerhouse performer like Ratna Pathak Shah. He was the wronged son ... his story stolen, his accomplishments always compared and found wanting as compared to his 'perfect' older brother ... his redressal wasn't addressed. Siddharth's acting was good though ... he just faltered in that one scene, otherwise he was very good right through. Must be his best performance till date.
Alia was very good in the scene where she speaks about her parents' death ... brought a lump to my throat, and a vow to never end a conversation with a fight.
Rishi Kapoor brought a smile to the face whenever he was on screen ... rowdy jovial old man, full of life, loving grandfather, non-interfering father and FIL ... he disapproved strongly of his son's affair, and of Rahul inviting the other woman ... but he let his son and DIL alone to handle their problems.
Rajat Kapoor was very good ... as he always is. Hiding his own secrets, struggling with the acceptance of his own failure, a weaker person than his wife ... he tried to make amends, but too late.
The two strongest performers were Ratna Pathak Shah and Fawad Khan.
Ratna PS ... what an actress! She was Sunita ... harried, hassled, betrayed and bitter, struggling with finances ... struggling to keep things going ... but not with a saintly all-forgiving demeanor ... she was bitter and angry, and she showed it. Yet she kept things going ... she was the glue of the family ... she made her own mistakes, she favored one son over the other, but she always tried to do her best by both and by her family.
Fawad Khan ... I thought the guy was over-rated ... I stand corrected. He was bloody brilliant. My new crush on the silver screen. A man struggling under the pressure of being the 'perfect' son, responsible, caring, mature ... yet hiding a secret which he wanted to tell his family, but was scared to. He did ask his mother to visit him, to see 'who he lived with' ... he did try to tell his brother, but Arjun fell asleep ... He was a wonderful son, ticked all the boxes, except one ... he couldn't get married and provide his mother with the grandchildren she wanted. And for a few short months, that one truth seemed to negate all his other wonderful qualities ... till his mother managed to accept the truth, and reach out to him again. A beautiful way of dealing with the issue ... understated and matter of fact ... showed both how difficult it is for a parent to accept the issue, and yet how irrelevant it can be in the larger scheme of things.
Special mention to the plumber scene ... it was hilarious, yet the underlying truth ... family secrets, family tensions, all festering inside, everyone trying to hide the cracks from the outsider, yet the cracks show ...
One of those movies I would love to watch again.
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