Surreal but poignant slice-of-life
Director: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Pahwa
Emancipation, catharsis and most importantly faith, these are realities that make Aankhon Dekhi a good film. A man takes an odd decision of believing only those truths that he’s experienced or seen. So any intangible force, any acquired knowledge or any hearsay become a matter of conjecture for him. Nonetheless, the road less travelled brings him a fair share of happiness and sorrow. But most importantly, it allows him to live his life, on his own terms. And as he says at the beginning and right at the end, life is about living your dream.
Sanjay Mishra plays Raje Bhauji, a middle-aged man content with his suburban Delhi home, slightly dysfunctional family and tourist ticketing job. One day though he decides to change the order of things. An incident with his daughter and her shy lover forces Raje to rethink life and its social norms. He decides to question religion, rites, taboos and everything he hasn’t seen for himself. Naturally, his peers think he’s going through a mid-life crisis. But Raje sticks to his resolution.
Aankhon Dekhi is Rajat Kapoor’s film. He’s the writer, the director and of course the dreamer. He takes a quintessential North Indian setup and weaves a story of true liberation around it. Us Indians put too much emphasis on religion and social stigma. And in doing so, we all let go of a certain spirit required to uplift life. That’s what Raje Bhauji does in Aankhon Dekhi. He breaks free. The detachment makes him look like an odd ball, but it also gives him the happy-go-lucky nature, the sense of impulse that is needed to spice one’s life. On most occasions it seems as if Raje is taking things to the extreme, like when he quits his job and then subsequently takes up gambling. But his extremes don’t turn into hurdles. When he gambles he doesn’t get into a habit. He uses every experience in life, good or bad, to unravel mystery and truth.
If it sounds like too much of a sermon, it’s not. The film is not preachy. Instead its an honest attempt to show stuff that actually matters in life. And it also condones the social practices that just shackle a man’s spirit. The only thing that doesn’t do justice to the potential of Aankhon Dekhi and Rajat Kapoor’s dreams is the budget of his film. If only more financiers had invested in this rare gem, we would’ve had a world-class feature film.
But that doesn’t take anything away from the movie. That’s because Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa and Rajat Kapoor give masterfully underplayed performances. There’s absolutely no way you can tell reel from real in this film and its cast.
This might not be your average entertainer. You won’t be rolling in the aisles on the jokes. You won’t be clapping for the heroics. But you will feel a strange sense of content after watching this mature film. And that is what good cinema feels like. Poignant, surreal and most importantly real.