Udaan

An outstanding criss-cross of relationships between three men about the house

Namrata Joshi

Updated on: 7 February 2024 5:53 pm

Udaan

Starring: Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, Rajat Barmecha
Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane
Rating: ***

Udaan is not about telling a sprawling story but captures, in a sustained yet unhurried manner, the significant moments in the lives of individuals and their evolving associations. It’s a sharp, concentrated look at a troubled father-son relationship, how each of them, and the people around them, cope with their mercurial ways.

Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) had been sent off to boarding school by his disciplinarian father Bhairav Singh (Ronit Roy) and has not been home for eight years. A prank at school gets him rusticated. The rest of the film is all about the strange homecoming of Rohan, how he reclaims his space at home, and in life. The initial sequences of the film make for wonderful cinema—the banter, fun and irreverence of the friends, the detailing is perfect down to the huge trunk that contains any boarder’s life. The quaint daily rhythms get reflected in standout scenes like Rohan’s enforced running around the town of Jamshedpur with his father in the morning. Or the father waiting in the car as the younger son goes up and down the stairs to call out for his preening step-brother.

It’s an outstanding criss-cross of relationships between three men about the house. The relationship between the stern Bhairav and his fun-loving younger brother (Ram Kapoor) is also an interesting study in contrast. In these relationship games, there are no villains and heroes. What we see are several levels of maleness—coming together, clashing and moving apart. The son might be smothered by the rigidity of his father but shows sparks of a similar cussedness when he stands up against him. The narrative dips a little when a new set of characters—the youngsters Rohan befriends—are introduced. Their stories tend to slacken the pace as does the too spelt-out finale.

The biggest strength of the film is its casting. Even the family car ben 747 has character. You can’t imagine any other actors essaying these roles. Rajat has the right mix of vulnerability and rebellion. The highlight, of course, is Ronit’s performance driven by his superb body language, especially in the scene where he’s unable to keep pace with his son. One back shot of him walking away literally personifies “pride in defeat”.

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