Gulmohar

Gulmohar  on Hotstar

Directed by Rahul V Chittella

When Sharmila Tagore, Manoj Bajpayee and Amol Palekar are together in a movie, you are bound to be tempted to watch it, whatever the circumstances you are in. That's exactly what Gulmohar did. Did it rise to my expectations? The first half, yes. But the second half, I will have to say No.

Graceful Sharmila Tagore as elegant and naughty Kusum Batra is perfect. Kusum  reminded me of 'Ma ' of  Tomb of Sand by Gitanjali Sree. Kusum held her philosophy - " It was meant to be" throughout her life and compromised with life's various twists and turns. Finally she hopes to take charge and give it a twist of her own.

Indu, played beautifully by Simran,  holds together her family with its dramatic characters , a secretive mother in law , an emotionally torn husband , a financially struggling son and a daughter struggling with her sexual orientation.

Manoj Bajpayee did well as usual, though the character was not much of a challenge for him. Amol Palekar played the subtle villain -that annoying old man of the family who every now and then points out rules and regulations that a respectable family needs to follow.

The naive arrangement of all these good elements in the end leaves one to think it could have been better with a little more details to some parts, leaving some in the shades. 

Preetha Raj