Raincoat

I am quite a laggard when it comes to movies. Raincoat was released in 2004 and I watched it for the first time last night. As such, this doesn't deserve a big blog since most people would have seen it already.

However, for those who have not, I must mention that this a rare drama produced by Rituparno Ghosh. The inspiration is a famous English story but the drama, I feel, transcends the great story itself. The story is about 2 old lovers - Ajay Devgan (Mannu) and Aishwarya Rai (Neeru). Neeru gets married to someone else and after 6 years, Mannu comes to Calcutta. He goes to Neeru's house to pay a 10-minute visit, to end up in a spectacular drama, that is so unlike of Bollywood.

In terms of the pace, sometimes, I felt this is like Life is Beautiful - things happen at a certain, slow pace but one doesn't really understand why. At times, I was so frustrated because of the way Mannu and Neeru continue to behave the way they staretd and it gets more and more dull. But it is the end which fits the whole drama in hindsight. Unlike Life is Beautiful, the last scene has been left to viewer's interpretation, but the end in itself is very moving and fills you with a deep feeling of bonding and wonder.

Although the movie is centred around Mannu and Neeru, there are 2 excellent cameo roles by Mouli Ganguly and Annu Kapoor. The drama is centred around Mannu and Neeru, but I think that the most spontaneous and revealing exchanges of the movie are between Mannu and Mouli Ganguly. Aishwarya has given a outstanding performance, especially given her anti-doll get-up and role. Ajay Devgan is sometimes lost for expressions but the story covers for that. I think SRK or Aamir Khan would have done more justice to the role though.

I would strongly recommend it to everyone who wants to watch a quality movie and has a little patience for the story to end.

PS: And by the way, the name sounds very funny, but it is a very apt choice for the movie.