– By Princy Jain
‘My friend Shiv was told by his mother; how would she want her final journey be. I was listening to that conversation, and I realised that this can really be discussed ahead,” said director Vikas Bahl about his latest film Good Bye!
So the film opens with Tara (heavily south Indian accented Rashmika Mandanna aka Srivali from Pushpa) and her freaky celebration at a club where her boyfriend plays as DJ. Her phone runs out of battery and she gives it for charging at the bar. Party gets over, she forgets to take her phone back. And next morning when one of the club bartenders comes to give her the phone, also tells her the big-bad-news.
“Aapka papa ka phone baar baar aa raha tha. Maine ek baar uthaya. Unhone bataane bola.. aapka mumma ka death ho gaya hai”! A very hung-over half sleepy Tara assimilates this news in a rather non-attentive state of mind. But, of course, the news hit her and thus begin her journey towards this realisation that how non-coherent we remain to this biggest reality of life.
On the other side of the story is Satish Bahlla, the father of this family. Played by Mr Amitabh Bachchan, while he is shocked by his wife’s death, at the same time he is numb and angered by his children’s’ non-availability on this event of their life. The backflash sequences show him as a rather strict and disciplined head of the family. And now comes the veteran Neena Gupta, – Gayatri Bhalla – the mother of this family, who is now no more.
To match the dynamics of current viewers, Gayatri is a loving mother but she is fun-loving too. Unlike a typical-bollywood Maa, who is supposedly a tyaag-and pyaar ki murat, this Mom likes to drink, dance and stay happy. She is even fine with her daughter marrying a in to an inter-faith marriage or even living-in with him.
There are two sons of this family also – played by Pavail Gulati and Abhishek Khan. There is an adopted son in the family too. And a help, who is more like a daughter to this family. However, this young generation is too engrossed in meeting with their deadlines, and finding flights back home than just be mourning with their dad.
Vikas has very efficiently taken nuances from our daily lives. Be it the neighbourhood aunties discussing the name and the D.P. of their Whats App group, created for Gayatri’s demise. Or the scene at cremation ground, where everyone is mindlessly hooked in their cell phones while waiting for Gayatri’s turn for the last rites.
The first half of the film did make me cry several times. A mother’s call is like a routine for all of us. And it often happens that we tend to neglect that call, to attend a meeting or something else. What if this was the last time, your Mum was calling you? What if we could have heard her last time talking?
The second half, of the story moves to Haridwar, where Sunil Grover’s character, who is the chosen priest to do final offerings, come to the story. He questions the confusion in mind of these children, by telling them the logical reason behind all of these final rituals. This brings the family closer. However, I felt that this whole sequence could have been more moving that it is. It feels flat to me. No where, did it hit me, like the final speech from the film Baghban, nor did it feel like Simran’s victory, when she was sent off by her father in DDLJ.
A special mention of Neena Gupta, and her screen presence. Her scenes are all supposed to make us feel fond of her, and she does that effortlessly. She has looked vivacious and sparkly with her trademark carefree accent and body language. Mr Bachchan is as real as one can get. In one scene, where he is talking to his wife Gayatri’s ashes sitting by the Ganga River ghat, he has let his age and pain show by wiping his running nose with his hand as he continues crying.
Vikas Bahl is bit of a master of picking on real life situations. And there are several such instances in this film, but I kept missing that one hook which could have made this ‘the’ film for me. Finally, like a good Bollywood film, everyone find their peace, but as a viewer I was left wanting for some more poignant finale to this tearjerker.
3/5 stars.