The Last Lear: Review review

Hi Bikas,

Nice Review ! Now that you have mentioned that the film is a Not-to-be-missed one (as we all always expected), the curiosity about the film increases. Rituparno is back !

Yes, The Last Lear exceeded my expectations. I will even agree with the inetrnational critics who term this as Big B's performance of a lifetime. The film has many individual, power moments. My two favourites are when Harry urges Shabnam to shout at the hills to vent her anxiety, and when he recites Shakespeare to the director Sid. Rituparna Ghosh subty changes the lighting in that scene to something darker and bluish giving Harry's well-stacked room a unique theatrical effect. This and many other scenes are not just good, they are memorable.About the film as a whole, I still have my reservations though. As Bikas said the setting was artificial, but there was another, more glaring weakness. Harry's reason for giving up theatre years ago by not performing The Last Lear. The reason given at the end is childish, downright unconvincing. Are we actually supposed to believe it??

Hey Bikas,
I look forward to watching this movie :-) I was a little hesitant as i feared Amitabh bachan will go overboard like he did in Black. But you are probably right. His role in The Last Lear might justify a little bit of overacting :lol:

Aniruddha, I don't think director intended to get into the details of the past that Harry shielded form everybody. He didn't even share that with Vandana and she heard it from someone else....so the reason she's aware of (that we get to know) could be wrong....because Harry only knows the reason and he doesn't discuss that...

Yes Pranjal, Rituparno is really back after a dismal "Raincoat".

Payal, he doesn't "overact" he's a larger than life actor, so is used to overemphasizing emotions....i guess I mean the same thing. :wink:
cheers!

Bikash,
It was a nice review. I am looking forward to watching this movie very soon. I will definitely keep a watch on anything you write. Best wishes!

Thank you sir, it's really heartwarming to see your comment. I'll be curious to know what you think of the film..so please do write once you've seen it.

Thanks and regards,
Bikas

Hey Bikas,

Quite surprised that you found the movie A Must Watch... we could it last night and were quite disappointed. One, I would suppose, doesn't watch a Rituparno movie for "brilliant moments", but for a lucid and consistent narrative and thoughtful editing. Pitching Amitabh as a actor, more so a theatre actor, I thought was clever as that could always be used to cover-up his over-the-top histrionics... but that isn't exactly my problem. Some loopholes have been highlighted by fellow commentators above, among others, I'm yet to fathom why we even needed to have the sub-plot about tormented women bonding over abusive partners. Especially when the director took so long to even establish the characters. Shabnam, for once, demanded a better drawn sketch. Dialogues, in a vernacular language and English can be unobtrusive, as we have seen in Monsoon Wedding. But for that the English language used needs to be of conversational in nature. There are moments of brilliance though, looking beyond the most obvious Harry urging Shabnam to yell out her frustrations. For one, I loved Amitabh where he plays a drunken old actor who cribs and cries like a child to have his way and enact the climax scene; very different than how he’s played a drunkard in other films. But may be a separate post on that later.

Was it the Mona Lisa Complex that prompted me to be so disappointed with the movie? I know not. But I’ve followed Ghosh more or less consistently, and been quite impressed with his earlier movies like Unishe April, Asukh or even Titli. Simple stories, told simply, that Rituparno needs to revisit. That, Bikas, I completely agree with you on.

Dear Bikas,

Because you have written the review with so much conviction I like it. But for the film, well I have my reservations. Looked to me very half-baked.

Hey Bikas, Its a disappointing film according to me. It is not worth the hype it created. It was said that its the best performance of Amitabh. This film once again proves that Bachchan has an awesome screen presence and he is a great actor.But was there any need to prove that? we all know that. This was special because of Rituparno-Bachchan combo, and rituparno has again repeated his style of narration. Same situations and the same reactions of the characters. He is too over-rated yaar. Commercially this is going to be a disaster even in Multiplexes for which it is made. Someone has to be exceptionally talented to make a box-ofice disaster with Amitabh Bachchan... Ritu da please stick to small films...

Big B rocks anyone who thinks that one person cannot act and be star havent seen AB in last lear.

Hi Deep, Smriti,

I agree that "The Last Lear" is a flawed film and it doesn't flow as lucid as his previous films do (barring "raincoat").
However, even in his relatively weaker film Rituparno pays so much of attention to details, characterization and refrains from overemphasizing emotions. Something that I craved for in some of recent Bollywood new generation brilliant films.
For example--look at the character of Siddhartha, the director---
First we see him at the premier of his film and we find him adjusting the projector, we know this man is a perfectionist...
Then he goes to meet Harry and rings the bell, we know he pays attention to details and is well read...
He wins hearts......and makes Harry open the windows...he can achieve things..
But the deterrents are the pissing passers by......Sid has a tool....a camera to scare them off...
Now, he gets a CCTV installed...
He plays trust game with Harry....makes him take off his glasses and run the risk of falling down on the staircase.
Then, he makes Harry fall on the hill...
He does feel guilty about his act....
But what does he do? Remains silent..
And he picks up fight with people pissing on some random wall...

A convincing and beautiful progression of a character.....

I don't know, what problem you have with tormented women?
Are they a hindrance or they take the story forward...I think they do...
And why do they talk about their sufferings.....we know them better, we sympathies with them.
Had they not talked about themselves....they would have been simple plot tools...a means to narrate the storyline, mechanical...but since they talk, we know they're real, human characters, who are women...a part of our society...and they suffer (their sufferings weren't unconvincing, it's probable...)
Same applies to the poor narrator....since he's an ignorant journalist, a poor chap, his narration mirrors his character...

You see all these people have a character of their own. They're not simple cardboard cutouts or stereotypical characters that we don't need to know anything about...

I know, any discussion can't make one like a him that he / she didn't find interesting but it would be unfair to write off this film entirely. It does have merits..

I could be flawed a whole....but it's definitely rich in cinema...
Maybe it didn't work with you, but it did sustain my interest and believe me I've seen Rituparno's earlier work.

Since he's Rituparna Ghosh, he can attempt...why do you want him to keep making the same kind of films he does......let him expand...and understand....experimenting always involves risk of faltering...

cheers!

I'm totally agree with you vikas...this movie takes Indian film writing to the next level...a very beautiful nonlinear script...and the transition from one to other scene is so perfect...shefali shah is my favorite in the movie and amitabh proved why is he best...

:) that's a very passionate reply indeed. I agree with almost all your arguments and yet...and yet my friend I find it difficult to interpret the open ending, was he trying to be Satyajit Ray? What did the open ending mean, did it mean anything at all. Even the shadow puppetry when Sid discusses the plot of the movie with Harry was so reminiscent of Satyjit!

Apart from Sid's character whose character sketch could he justifiably sketch? And what was that Thank You Kolkata at the end about?

Its all very good for Rituporno to be trying something new but given how hesitant he looks, one would hope that he was himself as confident of his abilities as you are.

Hi Bikas! I watched this movie last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it - previously I had read your review and also enjyed it . Having studied William Shakespeare and some of his works at college and also having had the opportunity to play the role of Marc Anthony in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" at college, I found it very interesting to watch Amitabh play the role that he did and also felt that he has taken Bollywood acting to another level. I would agree with you that this is a "Must watch film." I am now adding a topic on this in the "Bollywood" forum for discussion.

I might be one of the few here that loved Raincoat. This was also great and Bachchan's praises are well deserved in this film. It's a study of characters and motivations, no cookie-cutter characters here.