Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini’s soppy Baghban has gone down in pop culture as THE film children can’t watch along with parents, for obvious reasons. 21 years later, we have a film which borrows from the same school, and at the end literally tells you ‘Go… hug your parents’ in capital letters. Is this another film you would be hesitant to watch along with your parents? Read on.
Anil Sharma is back after the massive (nostalgia fuelled) success of Gadar 2 in 2023. This time though the waterworks are limited to the eyes and not hand pumps. Deepak Tyagi (Nana Patekar) is suffering from vascular dementia. He has three sons and their wives taking care of him. He leads a lonely life, with memories of his wife Vimla (Khushbu Sundar) haunting him. With their eyes on his house, his children hatch a plan to abandon Deepak without his medicines at Benaras, and declare him dead back home in Shimla. What happens next is the plot.
Written by Anil, Amjad Ali and Sunil Sirvaiya, Vanvaas falters on two fronts right off the bat: devoting too much screen time to the romance between Deepak and Vimla, and the entire pressure falling on Nana’s shoulders to carry the film.
Of course, surprise surprise, the father is being treated poorly by his children here, because who doesn’t love the good old trope of helpless parents and cruel children? I can only imagine the sarcasm and taunts coming the next generation’s way once parents watch Vanvaas.
What doesn’t work
To dismiss it as something that doesn’t happen altogether now- old parents being abandoned for money- would be hasty. Anil has the idea, it is the execution which goes haywire mainly in the first half.
In the second half, as things reach a conclusion, there are some moments that shine… and immediately get butchered because Anil’s old school sensibilities kick in. Like the urge to put a sermon and have Veeru Volunteer (Utkarsh Sharma) strangely dress up as Deepak Tyagi as a tribute while the end credits roll.
Since he is also co-producing the film, Anil’s son of course gets the lion’s share of screen space. But standing next to Nana in any scene is a tall task for him, and Utkarsh tries hard, succeeding only once or twice. The romance between Meena (Simratt Kaur) and Veeru is a yawn fest. Add to that two songs featuring them, and you have lost the audience.
Nana saves the day
It is left to Nana’s expertise to save this sinking ship, and he does that well. He plays the role of a dejected man suffering from memory loss in the right measure, not going overboard. This is a film which could easily ventured into the melodramatic territory, but he brings a certain stability to whatever else Anil tries to pull off. Rajpal Yadav as Veeru’s friend does his job well, but Ashwini Kalsekar’s role as Mausi (that’s literally her only identity mentioned) makes no difference to the plot. This is no comment on her acting prowess, but rather just the need of the story. Rajesh Sharma is dependable, as always.
Music wise, the film could have used some crisp editing by removing Geeli Maachis and the romantic ballad between Veeru and Meena, completely.
Overall, one comes away disappointed by the story, but utterly impressed with Nana’s act. Watch it, if you must, with your parents. And don’t forget to ‘Go hug’ them, make Anil Sharma proud.
