Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan in 102 Not Out. (Image courtesy: Instagram)
102 Not Out Movie Review: A still from the film. (Image courtesy: YouTube)
102 Not Out Movie Review: A still from the film.(Image courtesy: YouTube)
102 Not Out Movie Review: A still from the film. (Image courtesy: YouTube)
Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Jimit TrivediUmesh Shukla2 Stars (out of 5)An asterisk at the end of a scoreboard is a wondrous thing, hailing the batsman safe even as the innings wraps up. It is a mark not merely of being 'not out' but, to use the dramatic cricketing term, 'unbeaten.' Carrying one's bat signals valour, but while supporters of the batting team have much to cheer, it is important for us to remember that those on the opposing end look at this very performance as a dull slog.Umesh Shukla'sis about a man of that age who wants to stay alive longer. He basically wants to break the world record for staying at the crease for the maximum amount of time. "I'm strictly opposed to dying," he says at one point. (Longevity, I must here confess, has always seemed to me like the least sporting of achievements. There are few things as sterile as the innings of a batsman who stays not out for the sake of staying not out.)The centurion here is a spirited old coot who has picked the mission to rejuvenate his colourless son, aged 75. Based on a play of the same name by Saumya Joshi, Shukla's film is a sweet but dull enterprise, one that never quite rises above its ultimate ambition: that of having two legendary actors play off each other. Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor are stalwarts wily enough to bat out any pitch, but this cloying and simplistic film doesn't challenge them at all, even though they are frequently foxed by the Gujarati accent.Kapoor, as Babulal Vakharia, is a former mathematics teacher - a grump by profession, I daresay - who likes his curtains the way they are, and can only sleep wrapped up in his childhood blanket. Dattatraya, his enterprising and animated father, played by Bachchan, compels Babu to change his habits and discard his coping mechanisms. There is more than a touch of insensitivity in the way the old man goes about expressing his tough love, and were it not for the twinkle in Bachchan's eye or the way he makes gummy teeth look like bubblegum, this may have been a very different film. There is nothing wrong with the grand old man's motives, of course, but his methods are rather sledgehammerly.We begin with Datta asking Babu to move into an old-age home because, he reasons, Babu's droopy demeanour will rub off on him and affect his innings: he wants to be the world's oldest man, and, in his words, he has "only sixteen years to go, yo." Babu, used to scowling in a room that doesn't change, panics and pleads to be left where he is, to which Datta gives him a series of very specific tasks - from writing a love letter to growing a flower - designed to bring him alive. This he does, and the film chugs along with feelgood strength, like a ten-minute scene from a Raju Hirani movie stretched into an entire feature. The film feels basic and is short, at an apt 102 minutes, and there are a few nice touches: the way Bachchan stands ready with a towel when his son is out getting drenched in the rain, the way Kapoor is irked by his father's need to sing along with every bit of a song - "ab ladies part bhi gaayenge aap?", he bristles - and the way the words "I hope you understand" are impressively given short shrift. It's also lovely to have the father refer to the son as Babu, something that happens in India regardless of what the son is named.The primary issue is that 102 Not Out is too static. This lack of dynamism is both physical - with the Vakharias cooped up inside their bungalow for most of the film, giving away the film's theatrical origin - and emotional, since the film never goes anywhere, except for the older man becoming more and more overt in his emotional manipulation, something that may also be said for Shukla. The theme of parents and sons clearly resonates with the filmmaker, his last film being the ill-conceived farce All Is Well where Kapoor starred as a caregiving husband with Abhishek Bachchan as his estranged son. 102 Not Out is, as I said, a sweet film . It's nice to see an old Bachchan picture on the wall, circa Abhimaan, just as it is fine to see a photograph of a Khel Khel Mein Kapoor teaching his son math. Yet despite Bachchan and Kapoor - and young Jimit Trivedi, who plays the enthusiastic domestic help with infectious enthusiasm - the film relies too heavily on prosthetics, with liver spots being used either for laughs, or instead of character details. All we ever know about Dattatraya is his decrepitude. For a film about living a full life, that feels rather toothless.
Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan in 102 Not Out. (Image courtesy: YouTube)
102 Not Out Movie Review: A still from the film. (Image courtesy: YouTube)
102 Not Out Movie Review: A still from the film. (Image courtesy: YouTube)
102 Not Out Movie Review: A still from the film. (Image courtesy: YouTube)
Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Jimit TrivediUmesh Shukla2 Stars (out of 5)A dramedy that delivers a worn-out social message as it trundles along on the back of the antics of an odd father-son pair with divergent approaches to life, Umesh Shukla'shas moments that strike a chord. But these are too few and far between to make this Amitabh Bachchan-Rishi Kapoor starrer an unforgettable cinematic outing. This is patchy fare that is only mildly diverting despite the best efforts of two veteran actors at the top of their game.Based on a Gujarati play of the same name by Saumya Joshi, who has also penned the screenplay and dialogues,offers a variation on thedictum - "zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahi (life should be big, not long) - by putting both the human desire for longevity and the need for quality at the heart of a narrative that starts off as comedy and winds up as melodrama. In the bargain, the film falls between two stools.Some of the comedy bits are just about passable, but the climactic detour into heavy-duty mush robs the film of an appreciable degree of vitality. As a long-suppressed secret - it centres on a pampered boy who left home 21 years ago never to return - places severe strain on the relationship between a wizened father and his septuagenarian son, the drama not only sinks into outright predictability, it begins to feel increasingly like a screechy 1980s family drama.What could be more ludicrous than a father launching an all-out confrontation with his son? "Main tere bete ko mere bet eke saamne jeetne nahi doonga," he declares under his breath. But the big-bang climax that ultimatum promises does not quite materialize.But with Bachchan and Kapoor putting their hearts and souls into what is essentially a two-hander that relies entirely on them,is never in any danger of sinking into the utterly gratuitous. If only its far-fetched dramatic conceits had the finesse and firmness to carry the weight of the film's well-meaning whimsicalities all the way through to the climax, it would have been far more rewarding and rounded experience."Main marne ke sakhth khilaaf hoon (I am dead against dying)," says 102-year-old Dattatreya Vakhariya (Bachchan) to his 75-year-old widower-son Babulal, a stickler for form and familiar routines who seems to have stopped living. "Zinda hai tab tak marna nahi," is the older man's advice.The son, "thakela, pakela (tired, bored)", lives in the past, wallowing in self-pity and trapped in dead habit. The father is the exact opposite: he lives for the moment and his sight is now set on breaking the longevity record set by a Chinese gentleman whose cutout adorns the Vakhariya's living room. "Only 16 years to go, yo," he exults.Peeved with his son, the lively centenarian threatens to pack Babulal off to an old age home unless he stops being so hopelessly morose. The latter recoils in horror and accuses his dad of being ridiculously unreasonable. So Dattatreya offers to let him off the hook if he fulfils a series of pre-conditions, nay tasks aimed at helping the man regain his zest for life.How nonplussed Babulal does that while learning a few life lessons is what the rest of the film is about. As the two men play games with each other with the help of a good-natured young medicine shop assistant Dheeru (Jimit Trivedi), details of their past tumble out and put them at variance.At a basic level, 102 Not Out is about the simple joys of living , the sheer futility of pining for filial fealty, and the fun of going with the flow. That point of view is articulated through a bunch of old Hindi film songs that Dattatreya savours - Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam (Kaagaz Ke Phool), Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya (Hum Dono), Mere ghar aana zindagi (Dooriyan) and Hum thhe who thhi aur shama rangeen (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi). The numbers composed and recorded for the film pale in comparison, emphasizing the cliche - old is gold. That is precisely what the 75-year-old Bachchan and 65-year-old Kapoor, teaming up on the big screen for the first time since 1991's Ajooba, prove to be - and more. They are a riot. Without them, 102 Not Out would have just been a whole lot of wearisome whining. Especially delightful is Kapoor, who makes the transition from a man burdened with too many worries to an assertive gentleman who begins to look ahead to the future with hope with the minimum of fuss. Bachchan, of course, never takes his eyes off the ball, reeling out one dexterous tic after another.Also noteworthy is the performance from Jimit Trivedi, who holds his own with impressive composure as the two seasoned actors go all out to stamp their class on a film that fails to benefit fully from their sparkling presence.
102 Not Out highlights: Directed by Umesh Shukla, 102 Not Out stars Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Mukesh Hariawala and Jimit Trivedi 102 Not Out highlights: Directed by Umesh Shukla, 102 Not Out stars Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Mukesh Hariawala and Jimit Trivedi
Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor starrer 102 Not Out has hit the screens. Audiences can’t wait to see Amitabh and Rishi don the unusual roles of the elderly father-son duo. Based on a play written by Saumya Joshi and helmed by Oh My God director Umesh Shukla, 102 Not Out also stars actors Mukesh Hariawala and Jimit Trivedi.
Also Read | 102 Not Out director Umesh Shukla: Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor were like students on sets
Talking to indianexpress.com about 102 Not Out, director Umesh Shukla said, “Just like the subject of Oh My God! was very universal, I felt that the story of 102 Not Out was also very universal. It is almost like a love story between a father and his son. I found the idea that a 102-year-old father would be willing to send his son to an old age home because he is too boring, very unique. The character of 102 is so vital in the sense that he still wants to live life to the fullest. You know, the idea that age is just a number.”
