BOTTOM LINE
Terrific Idea Loses Its Fizz Quickly
PLATFORM
ZEE5
RUNTIME
1Hr 55 Mins
What Is the Film About?
Gopal and Anasuya, a couple married for 50 years, suddenly announce they are getting a divorce. The news creates an immediate crisis for their grown children and extended family. As the legal process begins, Gopal’s stubbornness clashes with Anasuya’s need for independence. The home becomes a battlefield of old secrets and modern grievances, forcing everyone to question their equation.
Performances
Pankaj Kapur is sturdy as always, even when the scenes don’t land as well as they should have, though he goes slightly overboard with the Chaplin-esque mannerisms. Dimple Kapadia holds the film together well, playing the more mature partner when her husband’s antics get a little too child-like to handle.
Aparshakti Khurana is aptly cast as the good-hearted lawyer in need of a companion, managing to be funny and bringing groundedness to the portrayal. Samir Soni fares well, even if his character Param gets a raw deal. It’s a pleasant surprise to notice Nauheed Cyrusi again and she passes muster in a limited yet impactful role.
Analysis
The Bengali film Bela Seshe and its Telugu equivalent Shatamanam Bhavati touched upon the possibility of a divorce between an elderly couple, though as a distraction to emphasise the need for togetherness in families, shunning the idea eventually. The critically acclaimed British film 45 Years was another effort where an elderly couple experiences a strain in their relationship many decades after their marriage.
Stories involving elderly protagonists can make for terrific dramas, given a lot of time has passed under the bridge, providing the opportunity for filmmakers to uncover the many layers, secrets and tensions in the relationship. Saurabh Shukla-directed Jab Khuli Kitaab also serves as one such curious case, built on a fab idea: a husband who has taken care of a bedridden wife for years wants a divorce after she lets out a secret.
Gopal refuses to accept Anasuya for her ‘past’, failing to acknowledge that he’s very much her ‘present’ and that she wanted to clear the air about it out of guilt. While the heart of the film’s plot involves Gopal and Anasuya’s divorce, it is used as a springboard to tap into their family dynamics, basically suggesting how relationships come in all shapes and sizes.
The couple, for instance, also has a specially abled son looking for a companion. Gopal is not happy that his son has married a Parsi woman, who are in fact quite happy together. The lawyer, who promises to facilitate the divorce, establishes a close connection with a colleague in a troubled marriage. The film tries to adopt a playful tone to look at the unusual situation, where a patriarch behaves like a troubled kid.
Though the film sets up a clumsy scenario in the household effectively, it gets a little too goofy about it. While it’s completely possible for a man or a woman to lose any motivation to sustain the relationship in any given situation, the film treats it too trivially, as if it were a toy that Gopal was seeking. The blend between its comedy tone and the intimate family drama doesn’t leave you with a good aftertaste.
Moreover, the film makes the story all about Gopal and doesn’t give much voice to Anasuya, especially when the secret was hers. One doesn’t need a validation to commit a mistake, of course; it just happens and it’s hard to theorise it. Yet, you wish the story gave time to hear Anasuya’s side of the story rather than focus on Gopal’s knee-jerk reaction to it. The film’s idea works right, but the execution is just clumsy.
The third act, where another sudden revelation rocks the Gopal household, is particularly handled poorly. You wonder why Gopal would make a big deal about it and treat Param so insensitively, especially at a time when he’s rethinking the divorce. The typical ending is another disappointment; you wonder if the writers fell short of convincing ideas to give closure to the relationship.
Jab Khuli Kitaab is an uneven family drama whose quirky premise and goofball-ish treatment cannot make up for its inconsistencies in the screenplay. Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia’s experience gives it some respectability though.
Music and Other Departments?
Ritajaya Banerjee’s background score sometimes goes too far to lend a comic book style approach to a potentially serious story; it is generally a mixed bag. The hill station setting, focusing on intimate family dynamics (probably inspired by Kapoor and Sons?), makes for a visually appealing backdrop.
Cinematographer Adri Thakur gets the aesthetic right, maintaining simplicity without making the frames look banal. The editing by Kunal Walve is slightly all over the place, with sudden tonal shifts struggling to hold the soul of the film together.
Highlights?
Performances of the leads
Terrific premise
Several interesting threads
Drawbacks?
Uneven narration
Gets too goofy at times
Convenient ending
Did I Enjoy It?
In parts
Will You Recommend It?
If you don’t mind a low-stakes dysfunctional family drama, try it
Jab Khuli Kitaab Movie Review by M9 News
