2 weeks Ago By Abhinav Singh
Right from his debut feature, Shoojit Sircar has always been different as a filmmaker. He’s one of the very few filmmakers who does what he wants without being too worried about what a bunch of suits expect, or what it is that the market demands. In fact, he doesn’t have a style per se; he deals in human drama, no matter what form that drama takes.
For instance, Vicky Donor and Piku are very unlike each other, but each of these two movies deals with relationships albeit in very different ways. Sircar is also the only director who doesn’t shy away from pacing his films like no other Bollywood director. For example, October still remains one of the most delicate recent films Bollywood produced.
It’s one recent film that didn’t stick to the formula of silly songs, cheesy romance, forced humor etc. and was true to its emotional core. The same can be said about I Want to Talk .
In I Want to Talk , Abhishek Bachchan is an ad-man at the top of his game. He will immediately remind viewers of Don Draper because, well, he’s an ad-man and there’s no other ad-man more iconic than Mad Men ’s Don Draper. He also has a similar temperament; he loves to talk, like ad-men do.
But it all comes crashing down when he’s diagnosed with throat cancer. He can no longer speak and, hence, the film’s story is narrated as a voiceover by Arjun (Abhishek’s character). Another important aspect of the film is Arjun’s relationship with his daughter Reya; a relationship he takes for granted for the longest time and is content being a ‘weekend dad’ ever since his divorce from his wife.
There are clear moments in the film that standout, and all these moments come from the relationships within the story. A post shared by Abhishek Bachchan (@bachchan) There’s also a lot about cancer and surviving the terminal disease. Everything about this film is quite anti-Bollywood.
The contemplation of death and one’s own mortality, suicidal ideation, etc. aren’t topics Bollywood movies ever delve into; not unless you’re watching some indie production that a total of 250 people across the nation watched. There are performances here that leave a mark, like Johnny Lever’s character who, despite the limited screen time, ends up being memorable.
It does have its weak spots too, like the montages and the overuse of the ‘look-how-bad-this-person-has-it’ trope, which really does nothing. On the contrary, the setup of Arjun’s character isn’t done in a manner that resonates with the audience after he gets the bad news, which blunts the impact of a lot of other things that happen in the film. But, as humans, we’re able to understand where the feelings and emotions are coming from.
All in all, I Want to Talk is the kind of Bollywood movie you must watch. It is not perfect, but we need more of it and the only way we’d get more of it is if people would go watch something different that a few filmmakers in Bollywood do every once in a while. See Also: Abhishek Bachchan Taunts Dad Amitabh On KBC 16 For Wearing His Hoodies, Shoes And Socks: 'Ye Joote Kiske Hai?'.
