Pestonjee

I have always enjoyed pestonjee primarily because i have myself lived in Karachi where exists a sizable parsee community. the film has been brilliantly made and th locations are so reminiscent of parsee culture that i tend to float back into the realm of 70s when the time was pure and there was always time for other people. however if acting is to be considered then i must say that Anupam kher and Kiran Kher both failed miserably. i understand Kiren but Anupam was the main lead and could never once speak the way Parsees do. on the other hand Shabana came out great followed by Naseer.what is even more wonderful is how in 1988 the period that is much before the actual has been created. i also find starkling similarity between the parsee culture in Bombay and the same i have seen in Karachi. many congratulation to the entire team that worked in the making of the film.

Vijaya bai's direction and the acting of the three colossal thespians ensures that you 'live' the movie with the characters. It's impossible that you see the entire movie and remain unchanged. You'd carry Pirojsha, Pesi and Jeroo somewhere within you for a long long time.

So we get another so-called 'art' film produced by the Indian government. It's a nice and enjoyable film overall and as expected, it is portrayed quite realistically. Moreover, it presents the Parsi community, around which the story revolves, with humour and affection. The production design is absolutely fantastic. Where the film falters is in the narrative, which is quite draggy and slow. The story just takes forever to pick up and it does so later in the second half but only partially. Now I'm all for this kind of cinema - I'm a big admirer of the work of Shyam Benegal and the likes, I often find their films both meaningful and engaging, but this film hardly manages to be either of the two. It's not bad at all, it's not unwatchable by any means but it just doesn't have this sweeping quality which must be in every film to make it work. The second half is better, with some nice twists and greater dramatic tension which turns out to be just a short sequence.

Pestonjee rests on the able shoulders of Naseeruddin Shah who does not just act but creates a character. He captures Piroj Shah's reservedly awkward and eccentric nature with great affection. The film is his story all through and he gets to make some funny angry scowls as his character's voice-over thoughts are being played while he interacts with the other players. He is supported well by Anupam Kher who is mostly random but then has some nice moments to shine in the second half. Shabana Azmi is given a rather thankless role and she doesn't really look the part as her character must be a much younger woman. Kirron Kher is fine and quite unlikable in part because Naseeruddin Shah manages to make us feel towards her exactly as he does. This is how good his work in this film is. Pestonjee is a watchable and well-made film which has a nice conclusion, but it could and should have been better. It derseved to be just as entertaning as it was appreciable.

Generally I don't spend time writing a movie review, but after watching Pestonjee I just had to. The movie has so much to offer: 1) Multiple layers: It is not just the characters but even the movie itself which has so many layers to it. As the movie moves from one scene to another you can relate to a scene half an hour back. You connect the threads to understand the circumstances than and how it led to the characters behaving the way they did. Most such movies generally do this for you near the movie end, but Pestonjee respects it's viewer's intelligence and leaves it up to viewers to fathom the events. When you watch this movie, always try to link each scene to some sequence in the past and you will come to appreciate the movie tremendously. 2) Brilliant Acting: With an awesome star cast of Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher and Kiron Kher you kind of expect it. But this is one of their finest. Especially Naseeruddin Shah with his Parsi punches. What amazed me the most was how subtle changes in movie emotions are not conveyed through dialogue or events, but rather through Naseeruddin Shah's facial and bodily expressions. He plays a very quiet, introvert character but carries the entire movie on his shoulders. The movie might appear to move very slowly as the surroundings and the dialogues maintain the same tone throughout, but one needs to read between the lines and characters to really gauge how quickly the movie moves. 3) Emotions: Pestonjee contains all the emotions that you could think of. Comedy, tragedy, friendship, love, trust, betrayal, sacrifice, greed, satisfaction and lot more. 4) A Message: The movie has so many messages to convey. But the most central one is conveyed in movie's last line. The inherent human weakness of complaining about or comparing lives rather than trying to enjoy what we have. It couldn't have been portrayed better.

I am a big Naseeruddin Shah fan and try to watch all his movies. But just hats off to Pirojsha. From amongst all his movies that I have seen, this for me is his finest performance ever and by some distance as well. Just a shame that such a combination of acting, direction and story can't be found in current generation of movies. This movie is a must watch!