Udaan (2010)

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Writer: Anurag Kashap, Vikramaditya Motwane
Starring: Ronit Roy,  Rajat Barmecha, Ram Kapoor, Aayan Boradia
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Lyricist: Amitabh Bhattacharya

What this is about: 17 year old Rohan is expelled from a reputed boarding school along with 3 friends when they caught watching an adult movie off campus. He returns home to Jamshedpur where a stern father and a 7 year old half brother he didn’t know about await him. He is forced to attend engineering classes at the local university, and work at his father’s metalworks factory. His kind uncle supports his ambition of being a writer, but his father will have none of it. Will Rohan adjust to his father’s abusive and disciplinarian ways, or is his dream of being a writer too strong to put down ?

What I say: I saw this one pretty late. What could I do? DVD wasn’t out. I wasn’t gonna buy any DVDs anyways. I dunno how to start this one. I’m being extra careful (you read cautious n I read it nervous). The reason being it’s going to be read by an eminent person, I know personally. Now I’m running out of words to put. Damn it!

After my lunch on the Sunday, I sat before my PC with my friends to watch this one on their request. I’m a sadist when it comes to Bollywood. So I never make any request per sè. I dropped the screens down, closed the door, killed the lights, pumped up my Creative speakers and took a pillow to be prepared for hours to go. As fas as movie experience at my place goes, they say- it’s a theater. They’re happy, I’m modest. So, it begins now.

Excellent start for we people I must say. Adolescent boys going to a movie rated “R”, jumping the walls of their hostel at night brings down memories (Not mine dumbo, I swear). Spoiler alert- *they are identified by their warden and expelled*. The 17 year old brat, Rohan returns home, only to find his cracked up to the a$$ father who never gave a visit for 8 years and a step brother who didn’t exist till 6 years back. Now Rohan’s life takes turns (read twisters). The middle class family without the mother in the great city of Jamshedpur takes a heavy toll. He wants to be a poet. But after being kicked out of a grade A school, alas he has no choice except following his father’s dream of making him an engineer.  So, Rohan discovers many things, many people, does things, doesn’t do things.

Script wise the story is strong. It took years for Vikramaditya to write. The realistic depiction of characters has made the movie so much authentic. The movie shows the bonding between brothers and relationship between father and son. Ronit Roy as a father is dashing, daunting and has deliverance. Ram Kapoor as brother of Ronit, has done a very good job. The illustrious silver screen duo paired for the first time in a cinema and unlike the conspiracy-filled-grey-haired-handsome-rich-smooth-skinned-notorious-jackass in the Indian serials, have delivered an electrifying performance.  The débutante Rajat Bermecha in the role of Rohan and Aayan Boradia as six year old Arjun have illustrated skills that are fun filled and emotional. They are captivating and applaudable. In addition the poems by Rohan made me say- touché. Hell I feel like a Da Vinci myself.

Music is by the dynamic pair Amit and Amitabha. Same people behind Dev D. Songs and background beats are made just for my ears I suppose. Anurag Kashyap likes them surely. Anurag Kashyap has made movies which are meant for limited audiences and often receive positive critic reviews except No Smoking. No Smoking was a cinema made for mass audience by the brightest upcoming half-nude-long-straight-haired-single-expression-faced John Abraham. That was smoked to puff. He he. Till now Udaan has received tremendous response from all the critics over the country with avg rating of 4 on a 5 point scale. Only Filmfare and Taran Adarsh gave them less cos, DDLJ is the greatest film of all time. Ha!

The pace of the movie is slow. As seen in the trailer, the plot does not follow like that. So it may not be liked by all the audiences. But those who don’t mind a slow paced powerful drama are most likely to catch best of 2010. I was not so happy to see the ending. I was expecting a better climax. Literally nothing happened. No matter how I see the end freedom or flee, it does not soothe me. That’s the only down point.

Otherwise Udaan contains a show of dream and passion, which at this time of year is the epitome of Indian Cinema. Bound by the critic’s code I gladly say that this one is worth a solid 8.5 without haste.