Waiting: A beautiful catharsis

Some movies just touch your heart and make a lasting impact, “Waiting” is one such movie which explores the grim reality of life and shows us how we can have a positive outlook in such situation…

“Waiting” is a story of two strangers Shiv Kumar (Naseeruddin Shah) and Tara Deshpande (Kalki Koechlin) who meet in a hospital waiting room, both are in the same situation, Shiv’s wife Pankaja (Suhasini Mani Ratnam) is in coma for last 8 months and Tara who is newly married, her husband Rajat (Arjun Mathur) has met with an accident resulting in coma due to severe head injury. How Shiv and Tara cope up with their respective situation is what the movie is all about….

Story & Screenplay written by Anu Menon, Atika Chohan & James Ruzicka beautifully showcases two different generations and their thought process through the two principal characters Shiv and Tara. Shiv represents the older generation, who is more composed and has hope that is wife will recover, because for him the person with whom he has spent 40 years of his life is the most important hence he does not want to let go his relationship. On the other hand Tara who represents the present generation, who is impatient and practical and thinks that if her husband cannot return to normal life then trying to save him is futile. The writing beautifully captures the essence and the ideology of both the generations and justifies the same as well. Both the characters Shiv and Tara are written with a lot of depth which is the highlight of the movie. Other than the principal characters even the supporting characters like the Doctor Nirupam, or the Ishita, Tara’s friend or Girish employee of Tara’s husband’s are very well etched. Where the movie is a bit of a downer is its pace which slows down a bit in the second half. But kudos to the writers they keep the essence of the movie intact without taking the regular Bollywood track as a climax, it may be abstract for many but then it sums up the title and premise of the movie…Overall a good job as far as the writing goes…

Atika Chohan dialogues lifts up the screenplay, she gets the character’s dialogues bang on, whether it is Shiv’s dialogues which is more restrained or Tara’s which is care free and more verbose, or of other characters. Atika has paid special attention to the premise of the characters and then written the dialogues, and kept the language also as per the characters, where the dialogues needs to be in English it is in English, where ever it needs to be in Malayalam it is in Malayalam and where ever it needs to be in Hindi it is in Hindi…and there has been no effort to translate the dialogues to make the audience understand… really a commendable job…

It is the performances which takes the movie to another level. Naseeruddin Shah as Shiv is just PERFECT, there no other word to describe his performance. Naseer yet again proves his brilliance as a performer. Kalki Koechlin as Tara, the free spirited girl in a grim situation gets her act spot on. Tara’s character was a complex one but Kalki just breezes through the portrayal like a fresh air, undoubtedly one of the noteworthy performances of the year so far. With “Waiting” Kalki makes her presence felt in Bollywood. Rajat Kapoor as Dr Nirupam, portrays the cold and calculative doctor with panache, another brilliant performance by the actor. Rajeev Ravindranathan as the simpleton Girish takes your heart away with his underplayed performance.  It was a pleasure to see Suhasini Mani Ratnam after a gap as Pankaja, Shiv’s wife who is in coma, though she has a relatively a small role but she brings a freshness with her performance and her Hindi brings a smile to your face. Arjun Mathur as Rajat, Tara’s husband brings the required chemistry with Kalki as the newlywed, and was a delight to watch… Ishita played by Ratnabali Bhattacharya also does a good job though she does not have much to do in the movie. In a nutshell the performances make the movie a must watch…

Kudos to Anu Menon first for choosing this subject and second for narrating it beautifully with balancing the two points of views portrayed by the principal characters. She balances the emotion quotient well without making it melodramatic or over the top. After her not so successful “London Paris New York” and her short story in “X-Past Is Present”, Anu Menon comes to her own with “Waiting”….impressive job…

The two principal actors Naseeruddin Shah & Kalki Koechlin takes the movie to a different level with their superlative performances…I will go with 4 stars…

Movie Rating: (4 / 5)