'Aligarh' Review: Superb acting by Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkumar Rao and fine direction are the reasons to watch this one

The best part of the film is its utter commitment to Siras' story. We watched silently while an innocent man was victimised just because he was different from us, that's just one more reason to watch this film.

Movie: Aligarh

Rating: ****

Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Ashish Vidyarthi

Director: Hansal Mehta

What it's about:

Biopics are a big trend in B-Town from the last couple of years. The lives of the film (The Dirty Picture) and sports celebrities (Mary Kom, Milkha Singh) and even criminals (Charles Sobraj) have been captured on film. Last week's Neerja and this week's Aligarh have something in common. They are both capture the lives of regular people on-screen. Director Hansal Mehta, after Shahid and City Lights, returns with Aligarh, a true story Dr. SR Siras, (Manoj Bajpayee) a professor of Marathi and the head of the Classical Modern Indian Languages Faculty at the Aligarh university, who was a victim of a sting operation and was suspended on grounds of morality. Miscreants broke into his home and filmed sharing an intimate moment with a rickshaw puller at his apartment on the campus. Siras' story was carried in some paper till a young newspaper reporter Deepu Sebastian (Rajkummar Rao) decided to follow it up and it becomes national news. The film is about how Siras is shunned from everywhere, including his workplace and how he then fights the system. How he gets support and strength to fight his case, even while struggling to survive on a daily basis.

What's good:

Everyone knows the story Siras. It was in the papers not very long ago, so the challenge was to still keep it interesting, and the film overcomes that. It's not a story with intense moments, drama or thrills, which almost makes it an anti-biopic. Having a gay protagonist who is also a senior citizen is not a subject any director would choose. But Hansal Mehta is not any director. Aligarh is about human rights, more than homosexuality. Mehta has made a remarkably sensitive film that is bound to connect with everyone on a humane level. The scene where he goes to the doctor, who leaves without seeing him will break your heart. And this discrimination is very real in our society. My first thought was that a film about an old homosexual victimised by society would be a depressing, but despite the seriousness of the film, Mehta's treatment of the film keeps it from being a kerchief wringer. There are plenty of light moments in the film, Like Deepu's interaction with his landlady, Siras' delight in old Lata Mangeshkar hits and Siras asking Deepu while relating his tale, "Am I drunk? No? then I think I'll have another." Manoj Bajpai is brilliant as the gentle professor. And the credit for some part of that has to go to Rajkumar Rao. The transition of Siraj and Deepu from strangers to two people with mutual interest and later to a friend and a confidant is smooth and natural. Ashish Vidyarthi is excellent as the lawyer defending Siras. Even the courtroom scenes which put Siras to sleep will keep you engaged. Each member of the supporting cast is superb.

What's not:

The scenes where Siras is lost in music didn't warrant whole songs. A para each would have sufficed. Whatever needed to be relayed was done and after that, you just want the scene to end. Although every director decides what part of the story he wants to tell of the protagonist, I felt it was incomplete without a little bit about his family.

What to do:

The best part of the film is its utter commitment to Siras' story. We watched silently while an innocent man was victimised just because he was different from us, that's just one more reason to watch this film.

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Manoj Bajpayee: I am stern that 'Taandav' will be made

Actor Manoj Bajpayee, who will feature in the short film, 'Taandav', says that he went to numerous producers for a film on the subject but was spurned by all, and is now stern that the film will be made."My honesty with regards to the project (film) is such that we are pursuing it since two years. And all the producers that I have gone to, would run away after the narration. They would call me and say that if there was anything else, they would be keen but not this one because they could face issues," Bajpayee said at the launch of the film directed by Devashish Makhija.

"There is a fear which is completely understandable, since a person who is ready to put in money, does not want to take risks. And I am completely sure that this film will be made definitely and I am very stern about it," the actor stressed.

Filmmakers Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sudhir Mishra and Anurag Kashyap were present at the launch. Considering the fact that all three are producers, Manoj was asked if he wants them to produce the feature.

"Even if these three do not produce, get someone from outside, we will make it. We are already ready to shoot it, everything is ready, just give us the opportunity to shoot and Devashish will do the recce in four days," he said.

Anurag said that he had read the first draft five years ago and told Devashish, "If this short film is what you are planning to make as a film, it is a great thing and if you are searching for a producer, we can talk about it."

Bajpayee also quipped that this short film was the first look of that feature film. Manoj plays a Maharashtrian constable in the short film, after previously playing a Maharashtrian character in 'Satya' while his character in 'Aligarh' also teaches Marathi, both of which have been dubbed as one of his best works.

Will this Marathi constable in the feature film live up to that level, Manoj replied, "I do not know because we have not worked on it till now. But because I know about the research work we have done on it, and the numerous times we had conducted reading of it, an initial preparation to it has already been done, And at that time whether the 'sur' would fit in properly or it would falter, or everything would be perfect, we really do not know." Manoj had also featured in another short film, 'Jai Hind' with Raveena Tandon last year.

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