A good movie has the ability to touch our inner core and transform us for the better. Such a film does not come often and is etched in our memories for time immemorial. Even rarer are the movies that explore our spiritual reflections and portray on screen how, irrespective of our multiple insecurities, our spiritual core can help us in alleviating ourselves in life. These movies inspire an entire class of people who witness the story unfolding on the big screen. This, in turn, has the ability to have a domino effect on society.
Uunchai is one such movie that gives a beautiful portrayal of the spiritual journey of three friends. It explores the intricacies of human relations and shines with its messaging. The movie leaves us with a very happy feeling and an inner strength to achieve more in life by pushing our boundaries. The movie is beautifully shot as it captures the different cities of Bharat and Nepal and puts forward a gripping tale of friends. Uunchai is not just about reaching goals, but a spiritual message of going upwards in life. Himalaya, in the movie, is depicted as the symbol of reaching a level where we need to reach in life.
Uunchai is a story about three friends played by Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani and Anupam Kher who embark on a journey to Everest base camp in order to fulfill the wishes of a deceased friend played by Danny Denzongpa. Joining them on this journey is Neena Gupta, who plays Boman Irani’s wife in the movie and Sarika who plays a surprise co-traveller. Their journey starts from Delhi and concludes at Everest base camp travelling through Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Kathmandu, capturing the rawness of the cities along with their peculiar idiosyncrasies.
It is one of the best Sooraj Barjatya films. The direction and cinematography is brilliant. Also, the acting of the three main actors Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani and Anupam Kher is par excellence. The transition in Amitabh Bachchan’s character is one of the most exemplary pieces of acting displayed on the big screen. The reserved, inhibiting and grumpy character portrayed by Anupam Kher has many shades. The relationship between Boman Irani and Neena Gupta not only exhibits the brilliance of the actors but also leaves many memorable moments in the movie. The story traverses through multiple human emotions but never gets too cluttered.
More than anything else, the aspect of spiritual uprising explored in the movie is its biggest plus and sets the film apart from others. The spiritual significance of Himalaya in our lives is metaphorically depicted in the movie. Himalaya acts as a friend, mentor, philosopher and guide. It allows them to cherish their childhood and gives them hope for a brighter future. Himalaya serves to them as a panacea that can provide a remedy to their multiple life problems. The movie soulfully entrenches the geography of Bharat with its spiritual core. The spirituality of Bharat resides in its rivers, flora and fauna which inherently constitutes our concept of Rashtra.
The movie beautifully uses the Himalayas metaphorically as an epitome of our spiritual heights and the difficulty we face in scaling that height. Uunchai is a spiritual depiction of three friends’ journey towards the impossible. Boman Irani rightly describes “friendship in ‘Uunchai’ is depicted as spiritual experience”. Also, Anupam Kher said, “My faith in ‘Uunchai’ is based on my own philosophy of life”. For a viewer, the movie puts forward the fact that if we remain resolute and strong, we can overcome even the hardest and biggest of obstacles in life. We just need to keep moving forward one step at a time. The movie also explores the beauty of different human relationships and how important families are in giving us the stability that we so dearly crave in life.
The movie highlights and represents how almost everybody in life is struggling and searching for many answers to a plethora of questions and the movie fruitfully attempts to provide a solution to such problems. The movie also explains the importance of understanding our relatives before jumping to conclusions and forming our own opinion about them. It explains the importance of human bonds and how good bonds always propel us forward. The movie, through the journey of three friends, explains the importance of knowing our inner self and inner strength in order to scale new heights.
The author is an advisor, Khajuraho Literature Festival, Prabuddha Bharat Belagavi, VESIM Literati Festival Mumbai. Views expressed are personal. He tweets @MODIfied_SKP.
Read all the Latest Opinions here
Comments
0 comment