UDAAN - Movie Review : An insightful and must watch take on adolescence with a hidden message. (Review By Bobby Sing)

There are certain subjects which rarely get selected for a full length feature in our Indian Cinema. Adolescence is one of those rare subjects and we haven’t witnessed many movies made on the theme of those crucial teen years in the early life of a young boy. Therefore UDAAN comes as a pleasant surprise from a debutant director Vikramaditya Motwane, who boldly makes his first movie on an important subject and delivers a fine polished product proving his unique thought process with a style.

First of all the film is not preachy as it may seem to be from its look and promos. And neither it is interested in giving any sort of a message to the society in a boring way. It’s a simple story of a young boy and his relationship with his rigid father and helpless younger step brother told in the most simplistic way. But as it is said, ‘The beauty lies in its simplicity’, UDAAN becomes worth watching because it’s truthfully simple without any added flavors or colors and talks about a debatable aspect of our society.

The movie starts superbly with its first 20 minutes depicting the mischievous days of 4 young friends living in a boarding school. The sequence of their running from the school to watch an adult movie in the night show sets the mood in for the viewers. But this particular section of the film indisputably belongs to Manjot Singh alone (the young Lucky from ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye”), as he clearly outshines everyone on the screen with his famous realistic dialogue delivery style and comic persona. Though he vanishes off the screen after these initial enjoyable moments, but even then he makes you feel his presence through all those well written phone conversation scenes at regular intervals.

After its funny half an hour, UDAAN takes a serious turn and then moves into a completely different shell talking about the difficulties faced by a young boy while interacting with his ruler kind of a father. At this stage the narration becomes serious and the pace slows down drastically. But the director sticks to his main subject and characters in a convincing way and very soon you find yourself involved in this little family of three men (of different age groups) living in the same house as strangers.

In every family, a young male child always has his own contradictions with his father. There is difference of opinion, difference of vision and most probably the fight is over the issue of the stream or line in which the child desires to make a career in. UDAAN rightly focuses on this relevant issue and therefore every young boy watching the movie would easily relate to the script and the characters in a big way.

The movie may not find a thumbs up from every section of the viewers as its basically meant for the fans of realistic cinema who are used to a slower pace and can appreciate the social subject of the script without any songs or relief moments. It also has some minor flaws in its charactersiation like, how can a child steal money and car from his father who has a reign of fear in the family and yet cannot revolt right away or what was the cause of the father’s strong stubbornness towards his both sons. But even after these minor glitches, it still remains a well crafted film standing out of all those usual projects offered to us in 2010.

In real terms there are few visible and one invisible aspect of “UDAAN”, which makes it a worth watching project.

The visible aspects mainly include the outstanding confrontation sequences between the father and the son about their different styles of living and choice of professions. Both Rajat Barmecha as the young boy and Ronit Roy as the father truly excel in their scenes together. Then just watch out for the young kid Aayan Boradia, playing the silent step son, who mutely keeps suffering the merciless beatings of his father and doesn’t utter a word. He is simply adorable and loving with his innocent smile and dialogues. And then there are two sparkling performances by Ram Kapoor and Manjot Singh. Especially the silent conversation scenes between Ram and Rajat are a treat to watch. Finally the most impactful visible aspect of the movie remains its climax where Rajat along with his writer Anurag Kashyap and director Motwane defines the meaning of their title “UDAAN” in an exceptional way. In fact the concluding scene of the movie is capable of lifting up every viewer from his seat in sheer joy.

Coming to the invisible but in my opinion the most important aspect of “UDAAN”, which puts it in a completely different league, is the way it expresses the need of A MOTHER in every child’s life.

The film makes you feel the incomparable role of a female or a mother in a family who cannot be replaced by any amount of love, compassion or care provided by the other members. A mother, who can finish off all the differences in a family with her kind presence, love and calmness. A mother, who in disguise is just GOD living in our homes for taking care of us in the needy times. And a Mother whose debt we cannot repay in any form in our whole life on this planet.

Both the director and the writer need to be congratulated on this hidden aspect of the movie which may not strike all the viewers at first. But if you can think for a moment, then all the sufferings in the movie are only there due to the missing factor in the family called “MOTHER”.

So, in a way “UDAAN” also makes you realize this Biggest Gift of God to the mankind by very softly portraying the fact that a family becomes completely dry and stiff in absence of a motherly abode. I hope the film encourages every son & daughter to remember that they are blessed to have their mothers around them in this tender age and they would certainly take care and love her to the best of their abilities forever.

Summing up, its a recommended flick since it has an important message for all fathers and families having their kids in the adolescence age. And indeed a must watch for its invisible merit, indicating the role of a Mother in a happy family.

Ratings : 4 / 5

(The movie right away finds its place in my “Movies To See Before You Die” list cause it makes you realize the most precious gift of God to us and that’s our Mother.)