Udaan - a review!

We watched ‘Udaan’ recently in the company of friends. Ever since I saw the trailers for this one, it has been there at the back of my mind wondering what sort of movie it would be and how would the story line be etc etc. Thankfully, it turned out to be a good watch. It’s a refreshing change to watch a movie that is not over-hyped or one that does not boast of a famous star-cast.

Basically a boy’s story of his relationship with his father, what made the two hour fifteen minute movie watchable was the fact of how crisply it was taken. Guaranteed some shots could have been cut out at the editing table, but overall, it was well paced. And it was not boring; which is again a good thing because offbeat movies have a tendency to get dragged. And in most cases it’s hard to recapture the viewer’s attention.

Coming back to Udaan, the one thing that stood out in the entire movie, at least for me, was the acting. Be it Rajat Barmecha who portrayed the character of Rohan – the son who aspires to be a writer but who is forced to work in a mundane job for his strict father, or Ronit Roy who played the father who expects his sons to call him ‘Sir’ and deals with them in a very detached way, or Ayaan, the kid who plays Rohan’s half brother, not to forget Ram Kapoor’s Jimmy, uncle to the children, each one of them have done justice to their characters. The movie tackles the underlying currents in every relationship that is portrayed onscreen, in a very subtle way yet manages to get across to the viewer the almost-broken links in each one of them. The son’s angst at being made to forgo his dreams and live with a father who is more of a dictator, his stunned expression at finding out that he had a half-brother whom he never knew existed, and the strained relationship that he has with his dad was brought out in a very natural way by the director. The father flaunting his authority over his kids, making them toe the line for everything and his justification for his behavior was done wonderfully by Ronit Roy. His whole character was personified by attitude and arrogance which made watching him act a pleasurable pastime.

Overall, one of the refreshing movies I have watched in recent times. A tumultuous story of relationships told in a very simplistic manner. Good watch!