Sterling performances in a feel-good film Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Neena Gupta, Rashmika Mandanna, Pavail Gulati, Ashish Vidyarthi, Shi...
Sterling performances in a feel-good film
Starring: Amitabh
Bachchan, Neena Gupta, Rashmika Mandanna, Pavail Gulati, Ashish Vidyarthi, Shiving
Narang, Sunil Grover, Sahil Mehta, Elli AvrRam and Arun Bali
Rating: 3.5*
There’s a reason
why Amitabh Bachchan was called the “one-man industry”. He still is, given the
adulation and respect he still commands the world over. And Goodbye is one more
reason to believe that Big B can still run the show on his able shoulders even
at the grand old age of 80.
In Goodbye,
however, we see a different Amitabh. Not the angry young man who would just strut
in for the screen to explode. Not the Amitabh who would woo the audience with his
perfect comic timing. Not the Amitabh who would serenade his heroines as the quintessential
romantic hero. We see a seasoned and mellow Amitabh, sure of what he can do
alone, yet gracefully giving all the other actors in the frame enough space to
grow and glow.
Each and every
actor in Goodbye, be it the young or the old, the seasoned or the debutant, has
a well-etched part which gives them the scope to showcase their acting prowess
without stepping on each other’s toes or trying to shoulder anyone out of the frame.
Director Vikas Bahl
serves up a film that is simple yet complex, tragic yet comic in its treatment of
death and how people react to this immense loss in their lives. Goodbye gets
off to a thumping start with Tara (Rashmika) shaking a leg to the Hick hick
number. Barely it is over that she gets news of her mother Gayatri Bhalla’s
(Neena Gupta) sudden death. Her furious father, Harish (Amitabh) had been
calling the whole night but she had been too busy celebrating the success of
her first case.
Even as Tara
rushes back, workaholic son Karan (Pavail and his American wife Daisy (Elli)
fly down from the USA more out of a sense of duty than any feelings while Angad
(Sahil) still can’t miss gorging on his butter chicken in Dubai despite the tragedy.
The last son Nakul (Abhishek Khan) is the last to know, making a late entry. As
the last rites and rituals for the final goodbye proceed, the family and their dog Stupid, gradually
come to terms with their loss and the sense of emptiness that will always
remain.
Rashmika Mandanna
makes a confident debut in Hindi films, never mind her accented Hindi. Neena
Gupta makes her presence felt even in her absence as she pops up as each family
member goes into flashback mode to recollect her vivacity and joie de vivre. Amitabh
steals the show with his sterling performance, the highlight being his 10-minute
monologue with Gayatri’s asthi kalash on the banks of the Ganga just before
immersing her ashes. After the immersion, Harish looks back at the Ganga and as
a parting shot howls “I knew you would smoke” struggling to keep his tears in
check.
Ashish Vidyarthi as
the all-knowing friend PP leaves a mark as does Sunil
Grover as the hi-tech priest who assists the family to complete Gayatri’s final
journey. Divya Seth along with her toli of friends who turn up to mourn the loss
of Gayatri provides the comic element, though at times the laughs appear forced
and in bad taste.
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