I've never seen a movie headlined by the lead of this one, but had heard, going in, that she was a very accomplished actress making her comeback after a few years. Initially, she reminded me of yesteryear Tamil/Telugu actress Radha, but that soon wore off over the course of its (substantial) running time.
The makers have tried hard, and made a movie of the everyday trials and unrealized dreams of a normal working girl. Of course, nothing is normal in our everyday milieu, where the lady working is also expected to balance her work life working for her kids, spouse, parents and spouse's parents. Heavens forbid she have dreams of her own and all that.
This movie is about the life of one such individual, at an especially life-altering turning point in her life, during which when she makes an epic fail, is caught/seen failing publicly, and is humiliated on Facebook (nee, social media) and at work. The issue might be simple, and unfortunately the makers have not chosen something that everyone might identify with (President Basu indeed - there were sniggers all around), but barring those mis-steps, they stick to the trajectory chosen, and try to 'English Vinglish' their way out of it, and the great thing about the whole thing is casting. Every character feels/looks/sounds real, and that, to me, was one of the movie's great strengths. I'd love to watch Manju's earlier work, and have seen one of Kunchacko's works, called 'Niram', which might be dated now, but was pretty good at the time it came out. Another character that I remembered seeing earlier was one the male characters in the lead's workplace, who was one of the main protagonists in the ensemble thriller that was '7th day' - the chameleon, Vinay Forrt.
Technically, the movie's polished, along with boasting real-locations to film in (always welcome), aided, in part only, by Gopi Sundar's score. Why part only, is due to the unnecessary jingoistic score he falls back on for those 'inspiring', nee, 'rousing' junctures, that I, for one, am sorely tired of, since it's been used to flog dead horses since someone killed one.
Though the denouement is apt for the protagonist, the entire last hour of the preachy bits on organic farming could have been done without. This year, after 'Bhoothnath Returns', this is another example of good work (maybe real good) coming undone by all the bhaashan-baazi that makes us last-benchers wanna leave class. Perhaps its a culture thing, perhaps not. But what could've been a great movie just becomes decent viewing, though I'd definitely recommend everyone to check this out at the local multiplex.
However, the title is completely (to me) irrelevant, since it misled me to assume that it was gonna address ageism, so prevalent in every part of the world, not just this. Sadly, it does not, and only serves to remind one that there's perhaps a (better?) movie out there on that theme.
The makers have tried hard, and made a movie of the everyday trials and unrealized dreams of a normal working girl. Of course, nothing is normal in our everyday milieu, where the lady working is also expected to balance her work life working for her kids, spouse, parents and spouse's parents. Heavens forbid she have dreams of her own and all that.
This movie is about the life of one such individual, at an especially life-altering turning point in her life, during which when she makes an epic fail, is caught/seen failing publicly, and is humiliated on Facebook (nee, social media) and at work. The issue might be simple, and unfortunately the makers have not chosen something that everyone might identify with (President Basu indeed - there were sniggers all around), but barring those mis-steps, they stick to the trajectory chosen, and try to 'English Vinglish' their way out of it, and the great thing about the whole thing is casting. Every character feels/looks/sounds real, and that, to me, was one of the movie's great strengths. I'd love to watch Manju's earlier work, and have seen one of Kunchacko's works, called 'Niram', which might be dated now, but was pretty good at the time it came out. Another character that I remembered seeing earlier was one the male characters in the lead's workplace, who was one of the main protagonists in the ensemble thriller that was '7th day' - the chameleon, Vinay Forrt.
Technically, the movie's polished, along with boasting real-locations to film in (always welcome), aided, in part only, by Gopi Sundar's score. Why part only, is due to the unnecessary jingoistic score he falls back on for those 'inspiring', nee, 'rousing' junctures, that I, for one, am sorely tired of, since it's been used to flog dead horses since someone killed one.
Though the denouement is apt for the protagonist, the entire last hour of the preachy bits on organic farming could have been done without. This year, after 'Bhoothnath Returns', this is another example of good work (maybe real good) coming undone by all the bhaashan-baazi that makes us last-benchers wanna leave class. Perhaps its a culture thing, perhaps not. But what could've been a great movie just becomes decent viewing, though I'd definitely recommend everyone to check this out at the local multiplex.
However, the title is completely (to me) irrelevant, since it misled me to assume that it was gonna address ageism, so prevalent in every part of the world, not just this. Sadly, it does not, and only serves to remind one that there's perhaps a (better?) movie out there on that theme.