Thoda Sa Romantic Ho Jaye. Review on Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaye

"Hope is a powerful emotion that gives us strength and helps us through trying and difficult times. With hope, we believe that things will get better, and we find the courage to keep trying." ~ Robert Alan.

This quote is among my favorite ones on hope and faith. Hope is both the most primitive and the most essential virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life has to be continued hope must linger, even where assurance is wounded and trust impaired. Where as in my views the only thing that comes in between a human and things he/she wanted from his/her life is often just the will to try it and the faith to deem that it is possible. Besides, our Karma decides our faith. This was exactly the theme of **Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jayen (TSRHJ here after).

The movie: TSRHJ was directed and produced by Amol Palekar in association withNational Film Development Corporation (NFDC) in 1990. The movie was inspired by Joseph Anthony’s 1956 classic The Rainmaker (Starring Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn) which was based on a play by N. Richard Nash.

Plot: This is story of Binny, an unmarried woman living with her empathetic just father, a cynic discouraging but loving older brother and a phobic younger brother in a drought hit town. Binny is eccentric and veryin-feminine in her ways and thinks that she is unmarried cos of her ugliness. But she has a crush on the collector of the town, whom her father tries to lure by calling him for dinner but he rejects her. On the same day a traveler come to their house and asks shelter and then started fascinating family members with his atypical amiable but mysterious talks and tells them that his name is Barishkar (The rainmaker) and he can bring rain to their town if they pay him 5000 rs. Everyone especially Binny called him Natvarlal (bluff master) but somehow he convinced her father for money and forecast for rain in 48 hrs. Gradually Barishkar charmed Binny and her family members (except her elder brother) with his contagious sanguinity and charm. He convinces Binny to have faith in her beautiful existence in her own way and also fills confidence in her younger brother. Hope, desire, aspiration is reawakened in all the family members. Now self-confident Binny keep on coming close to Barishkar but her elder brother still thinks that he is a swindler who can’t bring rain. They came to know about a dangerous criminal whose description is same as Barishkar.  She runs from house to warn Barishkar that police is looking after him. He asks her to come with him as he belongs to all the places and not a single place but she says no. And before leaving he returned 5000 rs to elder brother saying that it will rain before 48 hrs will finish and goes away. And suddenly Binny feels as if a drop has been fallen on her hand. She looks upside. Rain has started falling and changes everything including Barishkar.

Direction: Before directing this movie, Amol had directed Aakreitand Ankahiand got high acclamation through out the word. Palekar's movies always deal with prevailing but often bleak subjects as drought, social issues etc and the blending of these two opposing feelings are no easy task. Although the plot was taken from **The Rainmaker, Amol make this movie according to his own standards and convert it as an indigenous film for Indian cinema. The best thing that was used is silence between dialogues to give the maximum impact and the superb dialogues in form of poetry that makes it a musical drama. All the dialogues are hard hitting and have some meaningful comment on the things happening in society. See

*"Ped kat kat kar shaher nanga ho gaya, Suer aur gai ke naam pe danga ho gaya

Magar hamara shaher pareshaan hai ki Binny Binny kyun hai

Are jahan Mahatma Gandhi road pe bikti sharaab hai

Wahan sirf meri Binny ki wajeh se is shaher ka hazma kharaab hai"

Acting: Anita Kanwar (Lajoji of Buniyad), played the role of Binny. She did brilliant job in getting in shoes of an unmarried and frustrated women and showing pain and anguish. Nana Patekar was as usual brilliant in the role of Barishkar (Dhrushtadyumna padmanabh Prajapati Neelkant Dhumketu Barishkar) who talks nineteen to dozen and thinks that he can start rains out of cloudless skies. He came late on the screen but holds the center stage by his attention-grabbing acting. Bikram Gokhale (as collector Jaideep Das Gupta) beautifully played the role of a person who is afraid of love because his wife cheated him.  Banwari Taneja(as **Binny’s father), Riju Bajaj (as younger Brother) and Dilip Kulkarni (as pessimistic elder brother) did commendable job.

Songs and music: Music was the soul of the movie; often intertwine with words to form songs. The poignant, melancholic and touching music of the movie was given byBhaskar Chandavarkar (If you wanna check his capabilities, listen to his multi-platinum best-selling album “The music of Sea” on Music Today)  and poetic lyrics were by Kamlesh Pande (the man who gave you RDB, Aks and many more). You won’t be able to find any renowned singers in the album exceptChaya Ganguly. Most of the songs are in form of poetic conversation using voices of the actors.

*"Badalo ka naam na ho ambar ki chaon mein, Jalta ho jangal khud apni hi chaon mein

Yehi to hai mausam, Yehi to hai mausam, Aao tum aur hum barish ke nagme gungunaye

Thodasa Roomani ho jaye, Thode se sapna sajayae, Thodasa Roomani ho jaye"

My Take:In the era of digital channels I rarely switch to Doordarshan, but few days back I switched and watched this masterpiece. This movie tells you story of Binny, an unmarried woman and her condition was reflected by the desolate and rainless town. The symbolism*used was amazing and the movie hit hard on the society. The movie is symbolic (when it talks about the town suffering of Drought) but it is real also (when it talks of frustration and pain of Binny and her family). Barishkar comes in their life as their last hope and bring faith in them and they started believing in themselves. Palekar has always made light-hearted yet intense movie and he has done brilliant job in this movie too.

Although there are some negative points also as- long gaps between the dialogue (I heard that Palekar saab was a painter and in these scenes, he painted the screens with emotions through eyes and faces so I will say have patience and then only you will be able to enjoy the fruit) and slight drag in the middle but even then this will leave you with good light feelings and heart full with hope. I will easily give 4 and ½ star out of 5.

So chalo**“thoda sa Roomani ho jaye”

P.S: "Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come."