Review of Rain Coat

Well we are all busy with work, life, pain and pleasure, issues that find resonance in each Hindi film that we see so let us pay our tributes where it is due and critique where it is not. I watched Raincoat on the 24th of December. My reasons for watching it were that the director Ritoparno Ghosh had ‘Unishe April’ and ‘Dahan’ to his credit which while not being brilliant in any manner were staid and thought provoking. So together with the star cast I assumed it might be an interesting watch. I was sleepy during the show and the film did not help my efforts at being awake with its sluggish pace. I thought Ajay Devgan was miscast in his role as a unsuccessful, weak, and nervous lover. I have never had any opinion on Aishwarya so I will stick to that. The film in my view was rather loose and the slow pace did not encourage audience attention or emotional involvement of any kind. The lead couple are from Bihar who live in Calcutta but that too seemed unnecessary as the actors got the Bihari diction right in bits and pieces. Bihar apparently served no other purpose in the film except if it was meant to refer to the protagonist’s failure to be successful in life and his zarda eating ways! The director hints at a surprise exploration towards the end of the film, a trait that Ghosh has followed through most of his films. Comments are welcome!

*Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai and Annu Kapoor