The Last Lear

The last lear is simply amazing as it shows the brilliant combination of two great people.Amitabh Bachchan and Rituparno Ghosh are two legends in their own field. Last Lear is a movie about how Amitabh Bachchan, also playing the lead role in the film wants to be a great stage actor.Preity Zinta,Arjun Rampal,Shefali Chhaya were among the other casts in the movie.Believe me,all have given tremendous performance. in the film.Amitabh Bachchan needs no word to describe his acting.The way Harry suddenly breaks into the Shakespeare characters time and again is superb. The ending of the movie is so very touchy and awesome that the character of Harry just consumes one.A movie that is most definitely worth watching but not so if one does not fancy watching something that does not have songs, etc and more so if one doesn't like Shakespeare.The story is very good supported by equally good acting.The movie and its maker deserves all applause and appreciations!

" Tragedy in the form of King Lear's play is not new to Shakespeare fans. However , Rituparno used King Lear as a character sought to be played by Harish (Amitabh) ; a veteran stage actor primarily on Shakespeare's plays. However, the basic crux of the film "The Last Lear" is neither about Shakespeare primarily nor King Lear. So what was it all about ? Well here you go – 1. Dying Art form and the desire to perform one last time – Harish played by Amitabh is an ex stage artist on Shakespeare's plays. He now lives a retired life in unknown alleys in Kolkata along with his live in partner 'Vandana' (Shefali Chaya). Harish is a purist who had a last desire to perform the lead role of the tragedy King Lear, however his past did not allow him to play it. Hence there is a fire in his belly to perform Lear which will never come as films today have killed stage plays. Hence Harish hates films and differs to agree it as an art form. The film moves on where 'Siddharth'(Arjun Rampal) offers him a script of a character known as 'Maqbul', once a renowned skillful clown who goes jobless because of invasion of TV in life of kids, commits a crime and absconds.' Maqbul' then lives in the hilly slopes, secluded looking for a perfect opportunity to run away from life and Police. The character of 'Maqbul' reciprocates that of Harish himself and he agrees to play the lead role in his first film. 2. Women – Like most Rituparno films Women play a pivotal role in the "The last Lear". There is a common facet here, viz. Men taking Women as a moral right to bully and try to control them. The film shows the same act of bully with the nurse of Harish, with the co-actress 'Shabnam', with 'Vandana' as Harish's live in partner. This flow is shown in common across the society. 3. Tragedy – King Lear divides his property among his daughter and ultimately becomes insane in strange circumstances. 'Maqbul' too is tragic who falls from a cliff while escaping Police in the climax and so does Harish who refuses to take a dummy action lead and dictates to do the last climax of Maqbul himself and get's his backbone fractured. 4. Film within Film – Maqbul's story drives the main film. There is a film within a film. Harish is basically 'Maqbul' in some ways. 5. Confusion and gaps in contemporary Indian film production – Its diwali when the film finally premieres. This is not strategic but due to a planning blunder. Siddharth the director does not want to meet media, The lead Heroine Shbanam (Preity Zinta) runs away to Harish as he is bedridden and overall the lead 'Maqbul' is missing too.

However, I would be candid in saying that this is a very complex film and if someone does not like Shakespeare much he would be bogged down by the numerous dialogues which the film uses. See this film if you love Amitabh and just admire the acting skills of him. For sure, it's also one of the best performances by Arjun Rampal as the young director. Rituparno did a great job but this for me is not his best work but definitely in his top 10. As I leave you in the wonderful world of the clown Maqbul and his dying arts I ask you all, how will you fell if you give 30 years to a profession and excelled in it, but just to realize that today your expertise is history; a null and void past. What you would have done if you were Harish/Maqbul ? Would you have taken a second chance to do your best , one last time ? If yes, then you too are the Lear ! "

Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear is an artistic though slightly simplistic work. I did not really like the film being in English but obviously it wouldn't have been possible in Hindi or Bengali, considering it's about a Shakespearean actor. The story is interesting, and the idea of taking an old, Shakespearean theatre actor (Bachchan) and casting him in a motion picture is intelligent. Not less impressive is that despite the film being entirely about Bachchan, all the other characters are well-written. Every character is portrayed as a struggling person. In his way to become a film actor, we meet several characters through Bachchan's Harry: his co-star, Shabnam (Zinta), a model-turned-actress who does not know how to act and what to do with her film career, and who has problems with her jealous husband; Siddharth (Rampal), an arrogant independent filmmaker; Vandana (Shah), Bachchan's mistress (double-meaning); and his confused nurse, played by Divya Dutta. I think the film was well written, although it does become a bit slow at times. Harry's character is wonderful - an artist who insists to work on his own artistic terms. I liked Bachchan's scenes, I liked the scenes of the three women who have a nice evening on the day of the film's release, I liked the scenes of Bachchan and Zinta together, their conversations about what acting is.

Bachchan is extraordinary - one of his finest and most difficult performances ever. He is intense, generous, impulsive, and his English line delivery is spectacular. The film belongs to him completely, although the rest of the cast do a good job. Preity Zinta is extremely vulnerable as Shabnam. She lets go of her bubbly, vivacious image completely, and is portrayed as a very conflicted woman throughout. Although she gives a fine performance, I don't find it up to the level of her work in her commercial films - I generally prefer her in roles of vibrant and strong women who are full of life. Anyway, I liked the scenes in which she smoke anxiously, I liked the scene in which Bachchan teaches her how to release tensions by screaming, and she breaks down (this scene has appeared several times in different films), and she was particularly impressive in the film's last scene. Shefali Shah turns in a brilliant, exceptional performance, not that I expected any less from her. Arjun Rampal and Divya Dutta are very good as well. I knew from the very beginning that this film would not work for the wide audience, it's a film for people who like artistic films and festival stuff. This is not a particularly entertaining film, but I enjoyed it mainly due to Bachchan's performance.

Being a Bengali,i love watching Bengali movies but watching Amitabh Bachchan in an English movie is a treat.And one more thing which attract me towards this movie The Last Lear is Priety Zinta.The way she dressed,her makeup,she carries herself beautifully.I find her very beautiful in saaries with a big bindi on her forehead. She looks so beautiful in the movie,the funniest thing is i used to copy her most of the time but can't look exactly like her.For me,she is the most beautiful actress in our bollywood.The movie is based on Shakespeare's play,the way Rituparno explains the story of Harish played by Amitabh Bachchan is just mind blowing.All must watch the movie,the movie can't be missed.

The Last Lear is a very special film for cinema lovers.What makes the film so special is the coming together of director Rituparno Ghosh and the legendary Amitabh Bachchan along with Preity Zinta,Arjun Rampal and Shefali Shah. No doubt the film is really good as could be seen during its world premiere at Toronto International film festival,where it received tremendous reception and was highly appreciated.Amitabh Bachchan who plays the role of Harish,a Shakespeare age stage actor is brilliant in the film.This could be said to be his best performance till date.All the stars in the film,be it Preity Zinta,Arjun Rampal or Shefali Shah,are exceptionally good in the film. People should see the film to see Amitabh Bachchan's brilliance.He is simply awesome and with each of his movies shows a completely new face of his acting skills.The last lear is an outstanding film by Rituparno Ghosh supported brilliantly by his actors.