Release date:
|
May 19, 2017
|
Director:
|
Saket Chaudhary
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Irrfan Khan, Saba
Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal, Amrita Singh, Swati Das, Dishita Sehgal, Angshuman
Nandi, Tillotama Shome, Delzad Hiwale, Sanjana Sanghi, Cameos: Sanjay Suri
and Neha Dhupia
Hindi
|
Class differences,
language divides, superiority complexes, the almost killing tension parents
experience at school admission time and the snob value of a south Delhi address
– they all come together in director Saket Chaudhary’s Hindi Medium, a laugh-a-minute thinkfest starring Irrfan Khan and
popular Pakistani actress Saba Qamar. The film is about a wealthy resident of
Chandni Chowk who is uncomfortable with English and his wife who wants their
daughter to be one with the ‘it’ crowd.
If you know the
geography and sociology of Delhi, you would be aware that Chandni Chowk
signifies the old rich and traditionalism, while Vasant Vihar stands for a more
modern, English-speaking, westernised, moneyed lot. Not all residents of these
localities fit these stereotypes, but by and large this is what they symbolise
on the socio-economic map of the Capital.
What then does it
take to join the VV club? Would shifting house suffice? It is not that easy, as
Mita (played by Qamar) and her husband Raj (Khan) find out.
Raj owns an
expensive boutique in the Old City, drives a BMW and lives in a spacious house
with Mita and their child Pia. Delhi’s most prestigious English medium school
is not accessible to them despite their bank balance. Mita’s background is
marginally more uppity than his – this is evident from her comparative
sophistication and a brush with a former classmate in a well-heeled residential
area. She is willing to push her doting spouse to any lengths and to go to any
lengths herself to get Pia into that hallowed hall of learning. If this means
moving out of Chandni Chowk, investing lakhs in new family wardrobes and a
consultant, then so be it.
Raj is more
easygoing and less interested in social circles that do not want him. Still, he
goes along with Mita’s schemes even when they involve ridiculous extremes, and
indulges in some corruption of his own, to fulfill her dream for their
daughter. Why? Because he is smitten by his well-meaning even if misguided wife
– as smitten as he has been since she first entered his out-moded father’s darzi ka dukaan in Chandni Chowk 15
years back.
This being the
plotline, it would have been tempting to resort to clichés that formulaic Hindi
films have often favoured: the poor are all saints, the rich are all evil, good
folk are flawless, the bad beyond redemption. Or the ones being peddled by the
present political establishment in India: all Hindi bhaashis are rooted and humble children of the soil, all English
speakers are the snooty “Lutyens crowd”. The reason why Hindi Medium works for the most part is because for the most part
the screenplay by Zeenat Lakhani and Saket Chaudhary steers clear of cheap
populism and strikes a balance between being critical of a certain elite yet
not tarring everyone with the same brush: that consultant, for instance, is
superficial and harsh, but that classmate (Sanjay Suri) is kind.
Sure there are
exaggerations, but they are amusing, sometimes
even irritating, without being offensive, so let’s put them down to cinematic
licence.
Even Raj and Mita’s
encounter with poverty avoids over-statement: they learn their lessons not just
through the wonderfully generous, impoverished couple Shyamprakash and Tulsi
(played by Deepak Dobriyal and Swati Das), but through the dog-eat-dog
challenges of slum living.
This is the film’s
strength. And until the final 20 minutes, Hindi
Medium is unrelentingly funny and simultaneously thought-provoking. Then comes that climax including a
speech by Raj, which plays to the gallery so transparently and in so many ways,
that it feels like an afterthought forcibly inserted into the storyline as a
safety net in case anyone considers it too subtle. The contrast here with the
overall tone almost manages to kill the film. Almost.
(Possible spoilers ahead)
Raj’s sudden
decision to speak extensively in broken English, although his listeners in that
scene would obviously understand Hindi well since they are a Delhi crowd; the
sweeping statement on language snobbery in that sermon that is a departure from
the restraint of the rest of the film – these are among the many needless
populist choices in Hindi Medium’s
ending. Suddenly then Raj and Mita’s equation feels like a downplayed version
of that whole achha-pati-rebels-against-wife-who-leads-him-astray
cliché. And c’moooooon, did the only pure soul in that entire pretentious
school have to be the Hindi teacher and none else? The one
thing more overt than that would have been picking a Sanskrit teacher instead.
Not that the
narrative is untroubled until then. The beginning is problematic, when it fast
forwards to the present from Raj and Mita’s first meeting as teenagers (played
by Delzad Hiwale and Sanjana Sanghi). The present dwells so long on extraneous
characters that it takes a while to grasp the connection between those teens
and the protagonists.
(Spoiler alert ends)
In terms of
performances, Deepak Dobriyal and Swati Das are scene-stealers although they
enter the picture very late in the storyline. The child actors in the roles of
their son and the lead couple’s daughter – Angshuman Nandi and Dishita Sehgal –
are sweet and natural. And Amrita Singh is competent as Principal Lodha.
The one person
given the short end of the writing stick is Tillotama Shome as the consultant
who trains families for the school admission process. She is a complete,
undisguised stereotype.
Irrfan Khan and
Saba Qamar have nice chemistry between them. He is utterly delightful, even in
that moment of deliberate hamming when he breaks down on leaving Chandni Chowk.
Though his accent is somewhat inconsistent, his body language is perfect, and
those eyes flit seemingly effortlessly between mischief, affection for his wife
and pangs of conscience.
Qamar is a beauty.
Between her and Fawad Khan, they might convince Hindi film audiences that
Pakistan has cornered a majority share of the world’s hotness. Though her
character is often hyper, her acting never is – that is a fine line to tread,
and she pulls it off.
As with a large
percentage of Bollywood, the casting is not age appropriate though. The text on
the screen after the flashback says “15 years later”, a clear indication that
Raj and Mita are in their mid 30s. Khan is already 50 and it feels silly that a
need was felt to give us a pointed indication that his character is so much
younger than the actor’s real age.
Saket Chaudhary’s
first two films as director were Pyaar ke
Side Effects (2006) and Shaadi ke
Side Effects (2014). His shot at pyaar
was entertaining and breezy though not earth-shatteringly brilliant. His
look at shaadi held out the promise
of being an intelligent he-said-she-said take on marriage but forgot the
woman’s viewpoint early on. Despite its follies, what we get in Hindi Medium is vastly evolved
storytelling from the filmmaker.
Among other things,
I enjoyed the use of music in this film, both Amar Mohile’s background score
and the songs, original and remixed. Ik
Jindari (sung by Taniskaa Sanghvi and chorus, music: Sachin-Jigar, lyrics:
Kumaar), has a pleasant tune, happens to be crucial to the narrative and
captures the essense of the film with these simple words filmed on a bunch of
financially backward schoolchildren: “Suraj jaise chamkenge / Dekhe hain saadi akhiyan ne / Ae sapne ambraan de / Boond boond jodenge pal pal / Door door veh jaayenge phir naal samundran
de / Asi ethhe khade / Hai jaana pare / Na kam humko tol” (We will shine like the sun / We have dreamt of
the skies / We will collect drops one by one / And gather an ocean in which we
will flow away / We are standing here / We must go to the other side / Do not
underestimate us.)
On the face of it, Hindi Medium is an indictment of the
education system, but it is more than that. It is also a comment on the
hierarchies among the wealthy, a nuance that commercial Hindi cinema has rarely
captured. Besides, it is so enjoyable until that exasperating finale, that it
would be unfair to write it off because of the lasting impact of the lapses in
the conclusion.
Hindi Medium makes a point – several points, in fact – by being
simple and straightforward yet not simplistic. The film’s achievement is that
it tells us things we already know yet forces us to think about them, and has
lots of fun while doing so.
Rating
(out of five stars): **3/4
CBFC Rating (India):
|
U
|
Running time:
|
133 minutes 26 seconds
|
This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
