Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar
Well, most of the people must have already seen this movie but still I wanted to write about it. Some movies just seem perfect in all aspects and touches your heart. One such for me is this gem of a movie.
I have seen many movies which preach or deal with social themes. What I find stands out in this movie is the lead characters are very much real and relate able. The male protagonist is not some great-at-heart fellow whose only aim is to serve people. He is like any other highly educated Indian. He went abroad and was working for NASA. He comes back to India only to take back his childhood governess who is now in an old-age home. Having no family now, he feels lonely and wants to take her back to USA. He is uncomfortable back in India and prefers to stay in his air-conditioned caravan rather than in her house. The director slowly shows re-invention of his self and his attachment to India. Half-way through the movie, we see him waking up in the backyard of his aaya(governess)'s house indicating his growing attachment and comfort level. All this while, a very beautiful love story runs parallel.
When he sees that people are being ignorant, he doesn't start giving lectures. Instead, first he tries to bring children back to school, then he tries to bring electricity only after noticing people were of careless let-it-be attitude and he just wants to prove a point. The whole electricity episode was very believable and very real(The background music during the sequence is awesome). He doesn't revolutionize or anything. And when the time comes for him to leave, he leaves though he feels attached to the place. After going back only he realizes how much he loved the people there and comes back eventually.
At no point does the director try to preach or anything. At the core, its just a drama movie about a man's inner realization. The whole movie seems perfect and especially Shahrukh Khan literally lived the role. I personally feel this is Rahman's best album(including the background). Overall, I rate this as one of the best made Indian films ever.
