‘Uunchai’ movie review: Uunth pahad ke neeche!

UunchaiDir Sooraj BarjatyaCastAmitabh Bachchan Anupam Kher Boman IraniRating 35Impossible to find a fonder relationship than a group of guygirl friends whorsquove loved lived loathed together forever Such a gang will surely become more genderneutral over timegenerations This film is about one such male bunch of senior citizens obviously inseparable at old ageUnless itrsquos because I missed the beginning itrsquos hard to tell exactly how these four lifetime buddies mustrsquove got together in the first place Two of them are dukandaars relatively smalltime shopkeepers from Old Delhi mdash played by Anupam Kher 67 and Boman Irani 62 both of them expectedly competent on screenOf the rest one Amitabh Bachchan 80 is a multipleMercedes owning bestselling author of English nonfiction if you may the other a retired toplevelbureaucrat Danny Denzongpa 74Also Read Rakul Preet Singh has 5 back to back releases in a yearItrsquos immaterial though how friends first meet mdash schoolcollege workplace public place who cares What matters is how well they vibe with each other stillAlso whatrsquos inevitable about old buddies mdash in both senses of the term mdash is how easily they regress into the exact age they know each other from As do the four men over the hill here mdash but simultaneously leching at women in a swimming pool Itrsquos because yoursquore aware of this background that these fellows donrsquot come across as lsquotharki buddhasrsquo horny geriatricsWhich is also to let you know this isnrsquot a film about old folks partying offsite like Shaukeen 1981 or indeed its similarly titled 2014 remake Neither is this a movie on the general plight of retired life mdash as we saw most recently with Rishi Kapoorrsquos farewell movie Sharmaji Namkeen 2022And that gives you a sense that a Hindi film centred on male retirees isnrsquot in itself a novelty In fact the biggest Bollywood production with such an Expendableslike ensemble cast might well be the one that also starred Denzongpa among a gang of old men back in 1998 China Gate Denzongpa looks just as fityoung 24 years hence TouchwoodOnly that he practically makes a ldquospecial appearancerdquo in this pic mdash his character passes away quite early on leaving behind for his friends a mission quite different from China Gate to accomplishItrsquos to trek up to the Mount Everest basecamp in Nepal mdash a Himalayan task no doubt This could involve some comedy if you like The death of a best friend is anyway a rather underacknowledged tragedy among all possible tragediesAlso Read Arjun Kapoorrsquos special post for Malaika AroraTo be fair the film doesnrsquot slip too far into either territory mdash of drawing out too many laughs or expecting audiences to lose themselves in the emotions sentiment rhetoric alone Now depending on the kinda bigscreen viewer you are this could be a net positive or negative Irsquom a bit of a sucker for comedyEverything seems quite uniquely lowkey in fact even lacking in engagementenergy sometimes This is but essential to highlight because Uunchai is directed by Sooraj Barjatya 58 who along with his star proteacutegeacute Salman Khan 56 reintroduced to Bollywood the loud lsquojoint family filmrsquo in the early 1990sMeaning a movie that extends the definition of intimate family to a vast network of close and distant relatives associates neighbours down to the pet dog and the ManWoman Friday every day Respect here is merely earned through vintageBarjatyarsquos Hum Aapke Hain Koun 1994 HAHK miraculously brought lsquofamily audiencesrsquo back into Indian theatres The director himself it can be argued has mostly struggled to rediscover his moviemojo sinceFrankly after that level of HAHK success anybody would His last outing also starring Khan Prem Ratan Dhan Payo 2015 was in particular an abomination for a period setpiece in cardboardUunchai is entirely an outdoor film mdash with the cameras panning across live locations in the North following all the way up where snowcapped mountains merge with the open sky But where Barjatyarsquos really redefined himself is by suggesting how in reality friends are familyThis is his most contemporary film Also one that remains truest to its agecategory mdash something that we classify in movies as merely fit for children or adults This is a pic Irsquoll instantly recommend to my parents foremostAt the moral centre is Bachchan of course making the trekking mission therefore the movie possible Watching this octogenarian Everest among actors on screen again you realise this is Bachchanrsquos fifth major theatrical release Jhund Runway 34 Brahmstra Goodbye in 2022 alone And we catch him every evening on television KBC and practically every other commercialIn terms of the part itself mdash in certain portions totally shorn of makeupartifice revealing a physically vulnerable helpless side mdash Bachchan pulls off such a remarkably understated version of himself that you can still tell this role apart from hundreds yoursquove seen before by others or Bachchan himselfThere is a quiet gentle meditation on mortality here mdash almost an extension as a theme from Goodbye where we last saw a similarly hushed Bachchan only a month back His character in the film an author by profession is hugely successful alright But his writing it appears has been only for sales rather than selfexpression Canrsquot say the same for this simple mainstream picture

‘Uunchai’ movie review: Uunth pahad ke neeche!

Uunchai
Dir: Sooraj Barjatya
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani
Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / ‘Uunchai’ movie review: Uunth pahad ke neeche!

‘Uunchai’ movie review: Uunth pahad ke neeche!

UunchaiDir: Sooraj BarjatyaCast: Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman IraniRating: 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Uunchai
Dir: Sooraj Barjatya
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani
Rating: 3/5