Aisa Yeh Jahaan Hindi Movie
Not often you come across a film that has the potential to touch you on more than one level. Aisa Yeh Jahaan shows the promise. But...
Written and directed by debutant Biswajeet Bora, Aisa Yeh Jahaan is about a middle class Assamese family in Mumbai. The family comprises of an idealist Rajib Saikia (Palash Sen), his materialistic wife Ananya (Ira Dubey), their child Kuhi (Prisha Dabas) and their domestic help Pakhi (Kymsleen Kholie).
It starts well. The first half involves establishing the characters and the 'save trees' premises as the family visits their home in the much greener Assam. This is where the love for trees and their importance in our lives is explained by village simpleton Nalia Kai (Yashpal Sharma) to the young Kuhi.
Bora manages to craft endearing moments between Kuhi and her father. He also succeeds in portraying the restlessness of the outsider in the 'Maximum city' as he works relentlessly to make a life, even as difficulties threaten to break his resolve. One scene between Rajib and Nalia would connect with many, as the earlier reflects on his life in the big city vis-à-vis what he let go. The desperation of a man to do better than his mediocre life and yet being stuck oozes from Rajib's character.
You would hope things only get better from there. But they rather go awry in the second half as the director misses the mark aiming to shoot too high. Multiple subplots undoes the painfully drawn characters. What you are left with is like a new film every ten minutes, each dealing with a new topic -importance of trees, middle-class aspirations, greed and ambition and the racism faced by northeasterners. Also hampering the screenplay are uncalled for songs. While songs shot in Assam are bearable just because of the scenery, when an item number pops out of nowhere you would not know how to react. Especially when it's a particularly bad song!
The film is lifted by Ira Dubey's performance. As the woman who wants a better lifestyle and does not mind lying about her 'success' to school friends, she is thorough. Palash Sen does his best but he is not quite given much as much to do. Prisha Dabas is adorably cute but the director fails to manage her reactions. Kymsleen Kholie fits her role.
Aisa Yeh Jahaan did have promise. It has a heart too. But that's rarely enough. Not in this case. Bora's debut film falls short of possibilities by quite a margin. What it becomes is a rather half-baked, average fare.
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