Here comes the film for us, the common man. Yes, of course we loved Dil Chahta Hain and RDB with those convertible cars, we applauded when the dyslexic boy of Taare Zameen Par finds his passion for life, of course we got amazed by the unprecedented struggle of the slumdog who became the millionaire, no doubt that we were spellbound by witnessing the sheer careless talent of rancho, but they never touched our soul. We, the small town people, who are no genius and never aspire to be, could never really relate ourselves with the big party goers, the millionair sons of the billionaire fathers, with the glittering night life, because they always remained as a dream when compared those to our olypub or sagar bar or night out in a second hand cycle.
We never were into them. And precisely here, Udaan gives us the long overdue flight. The flight the middleclass always wanted.
Udaan reminds you of those middle class epics of Hrishikesh’s era, where there were no extra furnitures in the room, no cellars in the drawing room, no loud colors or exotic paintings on the glazing walls, no bathtub or telephone shower. Its all about our lives, and how we live it. Here, moss is common in the bathroom, as ours.
Udaan flies around the 17 year old boy named Rohan, who was expelled from his boarding school after three succesive misconduct, and of course, the severity religiously followed an increasing pattern. He came back to the half lit home, with a little known father whom he saw after 8 years, a half-brother whose existence was even unknown to him, and some shady, shabby households which remained as his only memory of those days when he left home. The story depicts the conflict between the teen age rebellion against anything which has the term “norm” asscoiated with it, and the authoritarian face of the society which wants everything to stand still at the time they lived. It shows how the communication and the generation gap, unless bridged consciously, can lead to ruin the possibilities of the future. The notions of the society are consciously put under severe satirical onslaught in this movie, but with a careful eye on the darker side of teen age “rebellion for itself”.
The story bases its plot on the small town of Jamshedpur, and interestingly, it gives you actually the warmth and cozyness of the small town, rather, of every small town’s. Quite often it was compared with the dreamy life of Mumbai, both within the narration and outside it, as a deliberate attempt to compare with the blockbusters of bollywood, and there lies the ultimate truth of this society, the migration from one’s home to the glittering attraction of the pseudo metropolitan life, the pseudo well being of consumerism, the tale of two cities, of our time.
Excellent storytelling perfectly complemented by flawless acting is the binding force of this film. We never expected Ronit Roy to deliver such a matured and controlled performance. Ram Kapoor did great justice to his style of low lying, reserved set of emotions while Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) and the little Arjun (Aayan Boradia) stole the show from everyone else. Once again after LSD we saw such fresh faces with such a natural performance, mindblowing, you will surely say.
From the technical point of view, this film will probably remain as an example of what Art Direction is defined as. Fantastic use of colors, awesome arrangement of the household set the mood of this story. The sudden comparison with the glittery life they led earlier adds salt to it, and again we lose ourselves behind the facade of consumerism. We long for the nightlife we saw in DCH, but what we actually have, is Udaan. We all probably are those Arjuns, who patiently wait for the catastrophy, keep mum after the cruellest of oppressions, until there is some Rohan to take us for a flight. This film tells us the story of our own life, our hypocrisy, and our lack of courage to take the flight on our own. While all of Rohans friends started painting their lives with wine and disco lights, Rohan acts as the responsible, takes Arjun away from his authoritative father who likes to be called “Sir” than papa. Here again, hindi film creates a new messiah for the sub-younger generation who got bored with the extremes of Darshil Safari and Aamir Khan playing college boy. Now they got someone from themselves, and probably this is the commercial masterstroke of this film.
It reminds us of the 2008 song of K’Naan, “When I grow older, I will be stronger, They’ll call me freedom, Just like a Waving Flag…”
Doubt Everything 