My favorite moment in Mira Nair's excellent Monsoon Wedding is when the Indian family assembles for the crucial wedding picture. Although the "acting" isn't loud, we know for sure that suppressed tension is also a part of the picture; the family is disintegrating because some ugly truths had resurfaced the night before, and a picture seems to be the last thing on anyone's mind. Their faces betray a slight discomfort. The smiles seem superficial. It is remarkable how the animosity between the characters translates to the screen. Nair, always a master when it comes to capturing smaller moments that carry a larger impact, stages this sequence with great skill. Despite the fact that it only plays for a couple of minutes, it is positioned at the exact moment when Monsoon Wedding turns into a different kind of beauty.
This moment, the family portrait amidst a moral crisis, is replicated in Shakun Batra's Kapoor & Sons to a considerably lesser effect. The all-important buildup is done with some heavy-handedness. The timing of the scene is wrong. It is late. And that is not a good sign. (I had checked the film's runtime before I booked the tickets, and I checked my watch when this sequence came up.) The course of the film changes, as it should, following that. But this time, it doesn't feel right.
It must be noted that, at first glance, Kapoor & Sons showed plenty of promise. Batra, who had previously made the enjoyable Ekk Main Aur Ek Tu, is good, very good, with capturing those minute details that add meaning to the characters. In Kapoor & Sons, we get to see flashes of it. Early in the film, we see a woman supervising a plumber to fix a leaking pipe (probably signifying what is about to come), and suddenly, without warning, a seemingly trivial exchange of words with her husband swells into a shouting match with all the members of the family involved. Even the poor plumber is forced into it. We understand what is ruffling everyone's feathers. We know that the family wasn't a happy one in the past; this has been going on for quite some time. Without anyone stating it, we know that these shouting matches are a regular feature in this household. The execution of this sequence is adept. It conveys to us what it wants to convey, briefly introduces us to the characters and their issues, and how these issues unravel with this motley bunch would definitely make for an interesting premise.
Alas, the film stubs its toe when the bulk of so many developments becomes too much to handle. Batra lets the plot unfold gradually in the first half, but introduces another bunch of issues in the second, when the film ventures into overblown-melodrama territory. As a result, the ending takes a body blow. In an attempt to take each subplot to a respectable conclusion, the prolonged denouement does little to redeem some of the film's flaws. The unevenness in the film's tone -- from light and swift to heavy-handed and plodding -- becomes frustrating. The characters needed a breathing space which the film doesn't provide. We do get the usual airy moments that delight us; however, as the film progresses, they do not fit as well in the handpicked mood of the film. (Irrelevant question: Does overdone prosthetic makeup qualify as a "flaw"? Because here, it is especially distracting.)
It is interesting to see how Batra's craft has matured. Kapoor & Sons is ambitious and neatly packaged, and well acted, too, but there's something missing. Or maybe there's too much stuffed here than is necessary. Still, he is a genuinely talented filmmaker. His films, two as of now, speak of his conviction in his abilities and his earnestness to tell the stories he wants. There are a few sequences that exhibit his talent for building drama, but the failure to sustain it is the undoing of this film. And that's just disappointing.
(Not For Reproduction)
This moment, the family portrait amidst a moral crisis, is replicated in Shakun Batra's Kapoor & Sons to a considerably lesser effect. The all-important buildup is done with some heavy-handedness. The timing of the scene is wrong. It is late. And that is not a good sign. (I had checked the film's runtime before I booked the tickets, and I checked my watch when this sequence came up.) The course of the film changes, as it should, following that. But this time, it doesn't feel right.
It must be noted that, at first glance, Kapoor & Sons showed plenty of promise. Batra, who had previously made the enjoyable Ekk Main Aur Ek Tu, is good, very good, with capturing those minute details that add meaning to the characters. In Kapoor & Sons, we get to see flashes of it. Early in the film, we see a woman supervising a plumber to fix a leaking pipe (probably signifying what is about to come), and suddenly, without warning, a seemingly trivial exchange of words with her husband swells into a shouting match with all the members of the family involved. Even the poor plumber is forced into it. We understand what is ruffling everyone's feathers. We know that the family wasn't a happy one in the past; this has been going on for quite some time. Without anyone stating it, we know that these shouting matches are a regular feature in this household. The execution of this sequence is adept. It conveys to us what it wants to convey, briefly introduces us to the characters and their issues, and how these issues unravel with this motley bunch would definitely make for an interesting premise.
Alas, the film stubs its toe when the bulk of so many developments becomes too much to handle. Batra lets the plot unfold gradually in the first half, but introduces another bunch of issues in the second, when the film ventures into overblown-melodrama territory. As a result, the ending takes a body blow. In an attempt to take each subplot to a respectable conclusion, the prolonged denouement does little to redeem some of the film's flaws. The unevenness in the film's tone -- from light and swift to heavy-handed and plodding -- becomes frustrating. The characters needed a breathing space which the film doesn't provide. We do get the usual airy moments that delight us; however, as the film progresses, they do not fit as well in the handpicked mood of the film. (Irrelevant question: Does overdone prosthetic makeup qualify as a "flaw"? Because here, it is especially distracting.)
It is interesting to see how Batra's craft has matured. Kapoor & Sons is ambitious and neatly packaged, and well acted, too, but there's something missing. Or maybe there's too much stuffed here than is necessary. Still, he is a genuinely talented filmmaker. His films, two as of now, speak of his conviction in his abilities and his earnestness to tell the stories he wants. There are a few sequences that exhibit his talent for building drama, but the failure to sustain it is the undoing of this film. And that's just disappointing.
(Not For Reproduction)
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