Gulabo Sitabo- A Masterpiece

Some stories create a Tingle in your brain. Some Stories leave a lasting impression. The ones with Big B in them are treasured for ever and the ones he chooses to enact are priceless moments of entertainment. I will try to logically explain where Shoojit has succeeded to create a masterpiece. I was having this conversation with my sister Uma and we both had differing points of opinion. She opined that the story was too slow for her liking, I felt that the story and the characters demanded the slowness. I was too involved in getting into the minutest details of the movie and so the movie went away like a breeze. She prodded me on the lighting. I said this was stark reality and the director must have wanted to weave his story based on what would look natural. Again I found nothing wrong with the lighting because I found myself moving around the building as the story was being aired. Well to the Story then and its main characters.

Fathima Mahal- An Old Dilapidated building set in the city of the Nawabs- Lucknow where lives the protagonist Mirza enacted by Amitabh Bachchan and his Begum. As I understood Mirza has inherited the Mahal from his in-laws, having sublet the once upon a time palatial bungalow, to several tenants. One of the Tenants being Banke enacted by Ayushman Khuranna.

I will not deep dive too much into the story but will tell you why i loved it so much besides being an avid Big B Fan. Obviously all the reasons have to be Bachchanesque:

Reason 1 His Walk
Amitabh Bachchan is a huge legendary star and is very well known to be a directors star. He gets beneath the skin of the character in this case Mirza. His slow unsteady walk reflecting upon his age. He may be advancing by the years but this role might have required that extra effort to get that slightly bent posture and the slow, carefully measured steps. Brilliant. Any Big B Fan would go crazy with the sheer effort.

Reason 2 His Facial Expression
An actor during the course of the movie is supposed to bring in different elements of suprise, happiness ,anger, Humor, Kindness and many such emotions. Big B too has donned several such roles. Here was the challenge. Beyond that heavily bearded look and that specs, a cloth over his head, he had to emote. Quite a tough ask. For Mirza it was a difficult day each and every day, life seemed to be presenting a challenge every day much like any middle class Indian would do, in order to survive. I found Mirza to be quite endearing in several ways despite his stinginess and his idiosyncracy. Mirza a character who would just not trust anyone, including his own begum, for him all that mattered was himself, his mahal, his chair and no one else. Even when the fraudulent lawyer offers him a paltry five lakhs for Fathima Mahal, everything collapses around him. The amount seems a huge fortune for him leading him to mumble around the numbers and lose his physical balance. He does that stumbling around quite a bit in a few scenes, near the minaret, close to the panipuriwallah. Quite a few emotional tugs for him but he manages to emote with brilliance and the same stony expression.

Reason 3. His Relationship with Banke
His relationship with his Tenant Banke is that of distrust and strictly one of commercial interest. He has no other go but to get along with Banke because he needs the money however paltry the amount may seem. Constantly at loggerheads with the tenant Banke. There are quite a few endearing moments in the movie that these two share. The scene where Mirza uses  Bankeys blanket and Bankey is quite angry with him because he is constantly wanting to drive him away from the house. Seeing no option but to see if he can build some sort of a relationship with Mirza, Banke suggests that Mirza adopt him as his son, the expression and the sudden outburst from Mirza is one that needs to be seen and enjoyed. In the end the two manage to come to truce but of what avail.

Reason 4. Mirza and his Begum
Mirza has obviously married a rich begum much elder in age to him. He has no emotions for her, in fact would love to see her die quickly so that he can inherit her wealth. Begum does a very cute part in the movie, especially where she gets her hair plaited. The scene where Mirza gets her wrong hand impression while she is asleep and the look on his face the next day when the lawyer tells him about the mistake. Mirza is back again in front of his begum to get her signatures on the property papers, this time the cute Begum wraps her fingers around with cloth. oh that quizzical downcast look on Mirzas face, one to watch out for and enjoy. Shoojit Da you are indeed right brained for the oodles of creativity. Begum is one with poor health records and thats what the viewer is made to believe and Mirza himself. So when the doctor comes and checks on her, he tells Mirza that these might be her last moments, Mirza embarks upon preparing for her last journey from blocking her grave, buying the Khaffan, negotiating for the cloth and haggling with the shopkeeper for a discount all pointing towards a very stingy Mirza bereft of all emotions all together a role that only Big B could have pulled off. By the way I simply loved the "Happy Birthday Fattoo" on the Birthday Cake.

Reason 5. The Chair:
Shoojit Da you seem have some kind of fondness for the chair. In Piku it was the potty that gets carried around on top of the car all the way to Kolkata, here its the chair again this time a royal one. I would not one to play a show spoiler but do watch the movie till the end. The chair does the Heroes part.

All in All Shoojit Da, Amitabh sir, I loved the movie from beginning to end, please do keep continuing to entertain us.

Lots & Lots of Love


TallBoyKarthik