I watched Mr. and Mrs. Iyer tonight
I had heard of ‘Mr. and Mrs. Iyer’ as a critically acclaimed film that won a lot of awards and tonight I had a chance to watch it, about 8 years after its release. The movie a strong theme and a decent story on top of it. Yeah there were a lot of loose ends that one could point at, but considering that the movie was released in 2002, post Gujarat riots in 2001, one could imagine the depth the filmmaker had tried to portray. The movie does fade away from its theme – ‘the communal riots’, but stopping short of pointing accusing fingers or trying to offer a solution is a good thing indeed and it does a more reality to the movie as the lead characters are not hero and heroine! The thin layer of romance involved was more of a filmy thing, but the emotions weren’t so filmy, so I could digest it, seeing the movie as a medium of entertainment where logic can always be excused to tolerable levels. As usual there were clichés regarding south Indians, Tamilians, Hindus and Brahmins, but in the context of the movie they were okay.
Konkona Sen Sharma’s performance showing myriad emotions and putting a lot of effort into the role making it seem real thoroughly deserved the National award it won her, that too in the days where heroines are restricted to glamour, songs and wooing the heroes in the itsy bitsy time they are given in the screen beside the “larger than life” heroes. Rahul Bose’s calm unflustered performance jells in well with Konkona’s and the movie. This movie is one of the better movies I have watched and congrats to Aparna Sen and her team for making a different and good movie, I am glad I watched it.
P.S. I have taken to watching loads of movies of late and want to write about every single good movie that I watched, but unfortunately this is the only one that has made it here till, rest are only on my tweets