All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely
players! They have their exists and their entrances, and one man in his
time plays many parts -**William Shakespeare
These poignant lines will always hold good. Whether we are professional actors or not, we are all essaying our parts. In life, we don't have a script handed to us or a director yelling out(may be our conscience), so all we can do is improvise as we go along.
As a theatre actor however, things are a little bit easier(or so we may think). The script is handed to us, we memorize our lines, instill emotion into the role and do as we are asked to by the director. After all Stage is an "actor's medium". But what happens when a thespian stage actor faces the camera for the first time in his life? What happens when theatre meets cinema? Cinema which by and large is a "Director's medium". This is the crux of Rituparno Ghosh's latest film "The Last Lear".
It is the night of Diwali and fire crackers are illuminating the dark skies with brightness. But in the midst of it all, a young film director, Siddharth(Arjun Rampal) is in a pensive mood. He is headed toward the premiere of his most talked about film, but instead of being excited, there is an air of sadness and tension around his friend Gautam(Jishu Sengupta) and him.
At the same time, in a cozy apartment in Calcutta, the heroine of his film, Shabnam(Preity Zinta) has a major fight with her possessive husband and ends up at her friend's house. She's come to inquire about her friend who's been bed-ridden for quite sometime. Though initially, she is given a cold shoulder by Vandana(Shefali Shah), her friend's companion, things change for the better as the night goes on.
The audience is then introduced to the main protagonist of the film, Shabnam's friend Harish Mishra aka Harry(Amitabh Bachchan) through a series of flashbacks. The story is narrated beautifully as Gautam reminisces the first time that he had met Harish, how he had recommended his friend Siddharth to cast Harish in his next film and what follows thereafter. From time to time, we are tuned in to the female perception of Harish as well via the profound discussions between Shabnam and Vandana as they recall their association with him.
Harish was a prolific Shakespearean theatre actor, who had quit performing on stage in the early seventies at the peak of his career. At the time, he was slated to play the role of his lifetime "King Lear", but at the last moment, he backed out. Since then, he had never performed, until one fine day, after thirty years, a young film director(Siddharth) approached him to face the camera and cast him as the lead of his film. After initial doubts, Harish accepts the role and what happens thereafter is a roller-coaster ride as theatre and cinema try to meet "eye to eye".
This film is adapted from a Bengali play "Aajker Shahjahan" originally written by Utpal Dutt(who himself was one of the greatest stage/film actors of India). Director Rituparno Ghoshhas payed a fitting tribute to him and has dealt with the script in an extremely mature way. I loved the detailing of every aspect. Any film maker or person who is aware of the trials and tribulations that a director has to go through in making a film will instantly relate to it. There are several scenes which stand out, and sometimes even bring a smile to your face. A few of them are listed below:
1] When Amitabh gets upset at Arjun and asks him "Why did I stay up all night, memorize all the lines and come to location only to find out that the scene has been scraped"? As Arjun tries to explain him, that it is a common phenomenon in film making, Amitabh's anger and disgust is shown superbly.
2] When Amitabh tells Arjun very humorously that "stage is for real performances, cinema can never do justice. It is on stage that audience gets to feel the emotions of the actor as a whole". He goes on to question Arjun "How does a director decide when to focus on hand movements or facial expressions or take a long shot".
3] When Arjun tries to explain Amitabh about "Windows on the computer and the concept of editing", a cluless Amitabh thinks of the window of his room.
4] When there is talk of the audition process, Amitabh stands up and gives a very theatrical performance in which he recites excerpts from Prospero's speech(from Shakespeare's Tempest) flawlessly. The visual effects, the blinking lights add to the intensity of the scene.
5]The climax scene - How far would a director go to "the perfect shot".
6] As a young model turned actress, Preity is in awe of Amitabh's acting skills. The scene on the top of a hill, when she finally feels that she has learnt a thing or two not only about acting but also about life in general was superb.
Coming to performances, Arjun Rampal is the surprise package. As a dedicated, passionate director he delivers a wonderful performance. The film belongs to Amitabh Bachchan. After "Black", I would say he has come up with a splendind performance again. He has played a short-tempered, belligerent and sometimes unreasonable old man extremely well. Toward the end of the film, one can relate to the "King Lear" in "Harish Mishra". Some may think that his performance is a bit "loud" and "theatrical" here, but don't forget he plays the role of a theatre actor who is facing the camera for the first time. Keep in mind that a theatre actor performs to a live audience and must perform such that even the person sitting way back can comprehend him. Preity Zinta, Shefali Shah and Divya Dutta(who plays Amitabh's nurse) are adequate. Shefali in particular is amazing. Prasenjit who has a guest appearance in the film is charming.
This is not the first time that Rituparno has made a film, where a film maker's perspective is shown. His earlier film "Bariwali" had taken us behind the scenes but not as extensively. With this film, he has reached a new level and it feels as if the director in him, his frustrations and emotions are shown through out. Over all, Rituparno has made films with diverse themes such as "Chokher Baali", "Raincoat", "Utsav", "Antar Mahal", "Dosar" etc. Most of his films so far have been in Bengali or dubbed in hindi. This is the first time that he has made an English film, which goes well with the Shakespearean theme and I feel can reach a wider audience as well. There are a few dialogues in the film, which are spoken in Bengali, as the characters are from Bengal.
The film was premiered at the Toronto Film Festival a few months back and was recently shown at a *Film Festival in New York *.
Don't expect a typical Bollywood masala flick. If you put yourself in the shoes of a film maker, just for those two hours, you will be captivated by the simplicity of narration and the backdrop tête-à-tête shots largely used to move the story beautifully. I saw this film over a month ago, but each scene left a lasting impression in me.
Macos - This one is to you!
