102 Not Out Review - 102 Got Out Tears (From Me)

If by chance traffic in Parel or Goregaon has you holed up in your car on your way to a screening of 102 Not Out, thank your lucky stars. Because, you’ll probably miss the first half (which is about forty minutes long). If you need an overview of those 45 odd minutes, pull up the trailer on your phone and those 3 minutes will sum up 45. In short, the first half of this quirky story is relentless and tiring. The gags are funny, but because you’ve already seen the trailer, you won’t laugh at any of them. The film follows a quirky 102-year old man, Dattatraya and his ‘thakela, pakela, boring’ son Babu. The two of them live in Vileparle in a home that looks like it’s a set of a school play. There’s obviously no upstairs and the architecture of this gorgeous, sprawling old yellow home is questionable to say the least. Dattu is friends with Dhiru, a 20-something year old Gujurati migrant who works in the local dispensary (headed by the ‘eponymous’ Hasmukh). Dhiru, unknowingly finds himself stuck between these two old men.

Babu is described as an old man - one who is scared of both life and death. Dattu is the polar opposite. He is an antithesis of Babu’s ideologies. He doesn’t believe that old age is synonymous with monotony. It’s an interesting story and one of the film’s biggest assets is the masterful premise written by Saumya Joshi. Joshi wrote this first as a Gujarati play and then moulded it to fit the big screen. However, what we get is a film designed exactly like the aforementioned play. The action mostly takes place on one set (again, whose architecture is questionable to say the least). Some dialogues in the film seem childish as if to emphasise every emotion.. The action, grounded to one place, is entirely dependent on its characters.

While Amitabh Bachchan inherently gets the more interesting character, it is Rishi Kapoor as his irascible son that makes maximum impact. Bachchan’s performance makes even less of an impact because of his clunky and amateurish prosthetics. He looks out of place and even his powerful baritone can’t help channel emotions even in the deepest of scenes. Rishi Kapoor is dull in the beginning, but slowly, starts to tower over each scene. The actor has a sort of charisma that wasn’t put into good use in films like Besharam. Here, he channels the charm at the right places. It’s a masterful performance - in my opinion, coming second to the actor’s Dadu in Kapoor & Sons throughout his illustrious filmography.

The second half of the film dabbles in the more uncomfortable feelings of old age. There’s a storyline about a son who forgot his father that touches you. It’s the nuances in an otherwise overbearing film that help to really drive the feelings through. Of course, the film’s biggest joy is watching Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor clash it out on the big screen, 27 years after Ajooba. Umesh helps to bring out the best in the both of them and both make for one hell of a ‘budha insaan’. There are few other actors, like Jimit Trivedi playing Dhiru. Jimit didn’t convince me. His laughter was quirky and fun, but especially in the second half, he couldn’t hold his own against the seasoned actors he was put up with.

The end of the film will make you clench your fist, almost in victory (I won’t tell you why). It will also hurt you. There was a hollow feeling inside me leaving 102 Not Out, mainly because of how Big B redeemed himself in the final stretch of the film. Both Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan smooth the gaping holes in the film’s narrative by just acting the hell out of them. That’s a special talent that the two of them have. Ironically, the two actors seem to be working against Joshi’s narrative and not seamlessly with it. While the premise is applause-worthy, parts of Joshi’s film fit the mould of a theatre production so well, it’s questionable why it was made into a film.

I’ll tell you why. Because were it not, we wouldn’t get to see two legends take welcome jabs at each other in a light hearted film. Having watched the trailer, I thought 102 Not Out would make laugh, I sure as hell didn’t think it would make me cry. But clearly I was wrong. You’ll feel a lot of things watching the film, but you won’t feel bored and I attribute that to the film’s short runtime. Props to the editors for only keeping what would tug at your heartstrings and make you laugh till your insides hurt. I think the last time I saw a film with an uneven narrative that still moved me to tears at the end of it was Tumhari Sulu and that one is still a very fond memory for me. I don’t think that this will be any different. Both are masterclasses in acting. I’m going with 3 stars for 102 Not Out. Watch it for its heart.