"OCTOBER"
The Shoojit Sidcar 2018 Film
A Review
Like
most ageing white-guys trying desperately to rock a silver-fox beard - I've
mostly looked on Indian movies as being happy-wappy Bollywood Bling where
someone breaks into a song and dance routine at the drop of a monikered
handkerchief. Then everyone else on set suddenly joins in the wild
shape-throwing (miraculously having won a job lot of bionic limbs and hips) -
our hero singing to camera with a smile on his henna painted face the size of
Boris Johnson’s venial sin list in a Catholic confessional (yikes).
Don't
get me wrong. I've loved Indian-themed movies like "The Namesake" and
"The Lunch Box" that have thrown off those stereotypes (see reviews)
- both films mentioned - deeply beautiful and moving too. So it was more than a
pleasant surprise to find this sweet little World Cinema gem lingering on
Amazon Prime for (technically) no schillings and zero pence.
Beautifully
written and realised by Juhi Chaturvedi and Directed by Shoojit Sircar - a
group of 20-something upwardly mobile Indian men and women are all working in a
5-Star luxurious New Delhi Hotel. Trying to hold down jobs (some elevated, some
menial) whilst staying on the right side of the uber-strict Floor Manager and
expensive 3-year courses paid for by ambitious parents - at a drunken New
Year's Eve party on the third floor - something goes badly wrong. The rest of
the movie sees our once carefree but work-committed crew and their fractured families
become acquainted with the hospital caring side of life (whether they like or
not) and all that brings with it in the clinical and often cruel real world.
The
three principal leads are brilliant - the handsome yet reckless Varun Dhawan as
Dan - a lazy young man with an attitude and a whole lot of growing up to do -
the quietly beautiful, studious but largely unnoticed Banita Sandhu as Shiuli -
a woman waiting for life to begin – waiting for love to blossom like the white
Night Jasmines she so loves that only bloom in October - and her long-suffering
yet dignified mother Isha Chaturvedi.
I
would add (without giving too much away) - that this is a sad film in some
respects but it is also uplifting. Once
into the thick of the pain - "October" takes it time - delivering
moments that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled. I'd also
single out for special praise - a truly haunting soundtrack by Shantanu Moitra
with a simple violin theme you might find yourself humming as you wipe away
tears in the kitchen post surgery (badly in need of a reviving cuppa).
"October"
will not be for everyone - slow and subtitled and at times not really sure of
itself or where it's trying to go or what it's trying to say. But I found it
intensely moving nonetheless. And nearing 60 years of age - I'm going online to
get Banita Sandhu's phone number (look out honey-bun, here come the bouquets).
Life is both joyous and vicious in equal measure and this little ode to hope gets across both sides of that story with a rare poignancy (wake up and smell the roses while you can).
"October" is a lovely unfolding watch that made me cry and one I recommend you seek out like the sweet life-giving scent of flowers...
"October" is a lovely unfolding watch that made me cry and one I recommend you seek out like the sweet life-giving scent of flowers...
