Rukh

After the sudden death of his father a teenager investigates. This is a slow burn film. The story and pacing are good. The direction is okay but probably bogged down by budgeting concerns. This director could have done so much more with more money and better actors.

Adarsh Gourav is excellent in #Rukh. He plays a young boy, who has to accept the bitter truth of his father being killed in a road accident. As he interacts with his dad's friends n gets involved in the case, he suspects that it was not an accident, but a murder. His character starts off as an immature school boy, later he tries to become a responsible son. Bajpayee as the dad n Tambe as the mom, r first rate. Director Atanu Mukherjee has done a good job. Its a pity that such movies don't get enough shows n enough patrons. The music is in line with the film. Rating 3/5.

I would like to congratulate Atanu Mukherjee and the crew members. And thank you making such a beautiful and heart-touching movie. I dodged this movie of the mediocre star-cast. I would like to apologize for the same. Not that I'm a fan of Big-Budget movies, I like off-stream movies a lot and this is comes under my all time favorite top 50 movies list.

Rukh is the story about the the boy Dhruv Mathur, who studies in the boarding school and comes back home on the death of his father Diwakar Mathur in a car accident, and how secrets from past unfolds in front of him through the journey of his investigation. After the death of his father Dhruv stays with his mother and maternal grandmother. He has the sneaking suspicion when some people who turns out to be friends and coworkers of his father visits his mom. He doubts that there is something that he is not being told about regarding his father's death. He sets on his investigation by visiting his old home and meeting some of those people who visited his house previously. During this part of the movie revelations about the work life and the nature of his father is made. He gets to know about the enemies and well wishers of his father and the problems his father faced with those people during his last days. After all this he now strongly believes that the death of his father was not an accident but a planned murder.

Now if we talk about the features of the film, the pace was quite slow. You must have watched some slow paced mystery movies like 'Manorama 6 feet under' but you won't have many names in this particular genre. Attempt was good, but even after consuming so much time in building the backgrounds of the characters of the story, the movie was not able to convey what it intended to. The songs in the movie were poetic but the lyrics were not strong enough to make you feel the essence of it. Dialogues in the movie were less, but the emotions of the characters were enough as the substitute to it, which also means the acting of each and every character was perfect.

The lesson that the writer wanted you to learn is about the role of one's attitude. The attitude towards any challenge or a problem decides how much tough it is. He inspires us to have a move on attitude because time is the greatest healer. Also clinging to any such problem will only result into hatred or depression, which will also take away the future opportunities from your hands. There's a short sequence waiting for you in the end which will explain you everything in a very subtle way. I will also like to mention the line said by Diwakar to his son.. "DAR KE BHAGOGEY TOH BHAGTE HE REH JAAOGE". These great words inspires us to face the consequences of our own deeds instead of hiding away from them. The impact of this words on Dhruv can be seen in a scene in the movie.

Though not fully satisfied, Rukh is the movie I liked to watch. Such experiments with the feature films are not generally made in our bollywood. I would say it's a one of a kind movie and you should share some time to watch it. In the end, your attitude will decide whether it was worth a watch or not.

Debutante Atanu Mukherjee breaks the concept of genre and gives a slice-of-life thriller Rukh. It's a story about a unhappy family and its predicaments. In the mold of a thriller the film follows a trajectory which scares you, makes you angry and then out-of-sudden you feel strong, then finally embracing tears of love and sacrifice. At core it is also a tale of greed and fragility of friendship but I won't tell about it more as that will give away the plot. But honestly, this is one rare Hindi film that showcases the fragility of friendship,unlike the "Yaarana" utopia depicted in mainstream Hindi cinema.. Also, there's a heart-warming tale of a father-son & how far a father can go/tries to give a better life for his offspring/family..Well, this is one area which is alien to me in my real life. So those who have experienced such a phenomenon may like it more. Mukherjee (& co-writer Akash Mohimen) keeps Dhruv at the front and along with him the mystery gets unraveled. The characterizations are top-notch. And then there are the fine performances – Manoj Bajpayee yet again; he is surely the most under-rated actor today. He gets able support from the dependable Kumud Mishra, Marathi actress Smita Tambe & Adarsh Gaurav (who is superb as Dhruv. After Mom & Rukh he is surely a talent to look for)... Rest is done by my favourite music director Amit Trivedi (& Sidhant Mago - lyricist) with two adequate songs which completes the film. Also, cheers to Sanglap Bhowmik (editing) & Anjo John (background score). While the end of the film celebrates "hope", I hope that this film gets recognized by its target audience over the period of time.