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Starring:
Naseruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz, Arjun Mathur, Violante
Placido, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Benjamin Gilani,
Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, Jayati Bhatia
Direction: Raja Menon
Barah Aana,
is a comedy of real life, revolves around a driver
Shukla (Naseeruddin Shah), Yadav (Vijay Raaz), who is a
watchman and the waiter Aman (Arjun Mathur) who
accidentally stumble into a crime and then realize it’s
not a bad business.
The story in debutant director Raja Menon’s film is set
in today’s Mumbai, where the three unlikely friends: a
driver, a watchman and a waiter share a room in one of
Mumbai slums. They are simple, honest people struggling
to eke out an existence in the city. The driver is an
older man, stoic but dependable. The watchman, in his
30s, is a pushover at work but otherwise mischievous.
The waiter is a young, swaggering chap, brimming with
ambition. Living together, their different attitudes
spark playful banter.
Featuring a
talented ensemble cast, it is a delightful and comedy
film with some great performances from Naseerudding,
Vijay Raaz and others. Raja Menon is a great storyteller
and his film Barah Aana is based on an original script.
The story is very different with a novel backdrop and
the narration and the presentation progress in tandem.
After ‘A Wednesday’, Naseeruddin Shah has a power packed
performance and conveyed most through his silence. He
has a few dialogues in the climax. Rest of the time, he
is shown communicating with his facial expressions and
shrugs. Vijay Raaj, who is the most talkative among them
and Arjun Mathur are very impressive. Yet another
impressive character is the phone-booth owner in the
slum played by Tannishtha Chatterjee who makes a fine
impact in this film, while Violante suits the bill
perfectly.
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But life isn't so forgiving - Shukla is constantly
ridiculed and ill-treated by his mistress, Yadav is being
made to do double shifts and made to run errands all day.
The waiter, Aman harbours romantic dreams in his heart
about the friendly Italian woman at his café.
When Yadav's son at his village falls ill and he
desperately needs money for the treatment, his pleas fall
on deaf ears. It is here that desperation leads to an
accidental crime and with it comes a realization. Till now
these chaps had tolerated trash from all around them, they
now have a way to fight back the system for the dignity
that they have been denied so far.
At some point, misfortune befalls the watchman and, due to
a series of chance events, he stumbles into a crime.
Striking upon a seemingly low-risk way to make good money,
and discovering a new sense of self-confidence, he tries
to entice the others to join him in a series of such
crimes. Cat and mouse games ensue between the three as
personalities change, but events soon spiral out of
control, leading them in a direction none of them had
wanted to take…
This refreshing film begins
at a slow pace, apparently to establish the difficult
lives of the three lead actors the characters and to
portray the situation. It picks up in the second half
and has an interesting and a bit complicated climax. The
story is just unpredictable. It's a puzzle till the end
and you never know what's going to happen next.
- Amar Jeet
Cast
Shukla - Naseeruddin Shah
Yadav - Vijay Raaz
Aman - Arjun Mathur
Rani - Tannishtha Chatterjee
Kate - Violante Placido
Mr. Mehta - Benjamin Gilani
Mrs. Mehta - Jayati Bhatia
Cutlet Aunty - Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal
Credits & Crew:
Banner - Bandra West Pictures
Producers - Raja Menon, Raj Yerasi, Giulia Achilli
Director - Raja Menon
Cinematography - Priya Seth
Music - Shri
Story & Script - Raja Menon
Screenplay - Raj Kumar Gupta screenplay
Film Editing - Hemanti Sarkar
Casting by Nandini Shrikent
Production Design - Anuradha Shetty Menon
Art Direction - Sree Kumar Nair
Assistant Directors - Gaurav Madan, Nishant Menon, Sushma
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