Kapoor & Sons: Rishi Kapoor Isn't The Only Scene-Stealer

It hasn't been declared an unqualified hit by the trade so far, but discerning audiences have given a unanimous verdict: Kapoor & Sons is a must-watch. I went on a Sunday evening (first weekend) expecting a heart-warming, happy "aren't we gorgeous" flick that makes one believe - at least for a few hours - that it's all about loving your family. Hell, it isn't! Definitely, not in this movie. I came home feeling disturbed and a little cross. I had paid for a chocolate eclair. What I got instead was a bitter almond. Am I complaining? Nope. I'm saying "Bravo!"

Aren't we all sick to death of feel-good, gooey, mushy family sagas that end on a great note? I am. Then along came this movie which uses so much cinematic stealth to creep up on you...you are ready to run, but it's too late. You are helplessly caught in the thick of an emotional wringer.
 Both my grandfathers were dead when I was born, so I felt somewhat cheated not having known one like Rishi Kapoor. Yes, he is the show-stealer for most viewers - without him as the central peg, there would be little to keep the story going. This is one grandpa who will stay with us for a while. Not because he is benign and generous and loveable and wise. Oh no. He is anything but! And with that as a starting point, everything else falls into place. Here's a 90-year-old grandpa who watches porn on his grandson's iPad (which he calls an "i-papad"), smokes up when he's in the mood, gets a face pack to improve his looks, makes nasty sexist remarks about the nurse taking care of him in hospital, cheats at cards during his birthday party, lusts after a drenched Mandakini clad in a diaphanous white saree (self-referential - but what the hell), and cracks the most sadela, offensive potty jokes. Phir bhi, the audience roars its approval each time Rishi Kapoor is on the screen. Have Indians changed their ideal of a darling Daadu, who distributes laddoos to bratty grand-kids, and generally carries on like Santa Claus well after X'mas is over? Certainly looks like it...
 Critics have fallen in love with the older Rishi Kapoor...all over again. He's the go-to actor when the role demands more than just a competent senior citizen mouthing predictable lines. During the past few years, Rishi Kapoor has established his impressive credentials playing a wide array of well-written roles. The operative words are "well- written". Which this one certainly is. Never mind that he gets a sketchy back-story, and we never know what the hell this Kapoor is doing in Coonoor. It doesn't really matter. Once he is introduced to us, we promptly go awwww and want to hug him - heavy duty prosthetics and all. Whether he is "practicing" dying or really sick, you end up cheering his wicked, irrepressible spirit. Here's a man in his 90s who hasn't given up on life or himself. He refuses to act old, think old, in the process reassuring other elderly people that it's really okay to be oneself...to be demanding, selfish, childish, exasperating and impossible. And despite these traits, still win over the love of a fragmented, dysfunctional, tattered family, which is barely hanging in there. This Daadu does nothing to resolve problems, reassure his oppressed son, placate his enraged daughter-in-law, or tackle the festering issues that separate his grandsons and cause so much grief. This grandpa is on his own trip. Of course, he loves his parivaar. It's just that he loves himself much more.

Rishi Kapoor plays Daadu with enough shades of grey to make the character plausible. The devilish glee in his eyes as he shares a reefer with the boys is at once a bow to youth and a nod in the direction of his own colourful past.
 Much as I adored Rishi's performance (awards galore guaranteed ), I admired Ratna Pathak Shah for doing such justice to the more difficult role. Rishi could play to the gallery and emerge looking great - the cuddly Panda who is taking his time to die. But Ratna's Mrs. Kapoor is the worst kind of mother - a woman who blatantly plays favourites between her two sons and almost destroys their lives via ugly, manipulative games. A wife who constantly taunts her husband about his lack of ambition/success, and drives him into the arms of another woman. A daughter-in-law who displays her impatience and irritation at every meal. A frustrated entrepreneur, who blames bad luck for not achieving her own dream of running a catering business. But, finally, she's forced to deal with her biggest tragedy - that of anointing one son her "perfect bachcha" till he disillusions her by telling the truth.

Now that requires serious histrionic depth that only a consummate actor brings to the table, given the chance. Ratna got that chance. And we as the audience should count our blessings for it.

(Shobhaa De is an established writer, columnist, opinion shaper and social commentator, who is considered an authority on popular culture.)

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