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When will Hindi cinema turn around and take a good, long look at itself, and flinch? At this point, it is more imperative than ever, especially for those who have the capacity to make meaningful films which believe that viewers have more complexity than kindergarten kids.
On the face of it, ‘The Signature’ appears to be one such film. It has Anupam Kher playing Arvind Pathak, a middle-class ‘buzurg’ whose dreams of a comfortable retirement is cut short when his beloved wife Madhu (Neena Kulkarni) is felled by a brain hemorrhage.
The film, adapted from the 2013 Marathi film ‘Anumati’, shows the struggle of an average working class person when they are at the mercy of heartless medicare systems, and doctors intent upon fattening their bottom-lines. As Arvind goes from pillar to post, prostrating himself in front of those who do not wish to listen, your heart goes out to him.
Or wait. It should. By all that is right, it absolutely should. The premise almost feels like a reprise of Kher’s first film, ‘Saaransh’ (1984), in which he plays a helpless elderly man facing an unresponsive system after his son dies. Done with the same degree of depth and nuance that Mahesh Bhatt film had, HALF a century back, Kher should have left us in tears. But the writing here is so banal, and the situations are so stock, the story-telling is so basic, that you are left with zero feelings.
Watch The Signature movie trailer here:
A father fetching up at his daughter’s house to ask for money, saying ‘waise toh betiyon se maangte nahin hain’, sounds plain wrong. I’m not saying that there aren’t people today who do not adhere to these archaic ‘rules’. But if you’re going to put these in a film in 2024 without any caveats, what are you even saying? Showing that a daughter is only to be ‘married off’, to live under her husband’s thumb?
The supporting cast includes Ranvir Shorey in a walk-on part, playing another victim of overcharging hospitals, and Annu Kapoor as Arvind’s old friend. Kulkarni reprises her role from the original. These are actors who lift everything they touch, and they try. And Mahima Chaudhary, who comes on almost towards the end of the film, starts with a touch of awkwardness– that Kher and Chaudhary could be contemporaries, which the plot will have us believe — is a stretch — but settles into her brief role.
Kher himself is in practically every frame. There are a couple of moments he reminds you of the actor that he can be. But those are only a couple of moments in a nearly two hour long film.
The Signature movie cast: Anupam Kher, Neena Kulkarni, Annu Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhary, Ranvir Shorey
The Signature movie director: Gajendra Ahire
The Signature movie rating: 1.5 stars
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