Aankho Dekhi

Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Pahwa, Namit Das, Manu Rishi Chadha, Brijendra Kala, Maya Sarao, Taranjit Kaur, Chandrachoor Raj, Alka Chawla, Mahesh Sharma, Anil Chaudhary, Shrikant Verma, Manish Karnatak, Dhruv Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Danish Hussain, Yogendra Tiku, Chaitanya Mahawar, Chetan Sharma, Shivam Sethi

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Direction: Rajat Kapoor

Production: Manish Mundra

Story: Rajat Kapoor

Cinematographer: Rafey Mahmood

Editor: Suresh Pai

Studio: Mithya Talkies

Music: Sagar Desai

Lyricist: Varun Grover

Singers: Kailash Kher, Ronkini Gupta, Shaan, Mansheel Gujral

Release Date: 21^st March, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 1 hour 48 minutes

The Plot:

Aankhon Dekhi is a movie in which the lead character Bauji (Sanjay Mishra), in his late fifties, seeks answer to the very question of ‘Truth’. He stays in an Old Delhi small house with his family as well as extended family. His exploration begins when an acquaintance gossips about Ajju’s (Namit Das) of ill-repute, with whom Bauji’s daughter Rita (Maya Sarao) is in love. But Bauji finds Ajju to be just the opposite on meeting him. And that is when, Bauji’s journey towards developing the Power of Discernment begins. The movie is woven around this theme where Bauji through his excellent acting conveys a great message that every human being has his / her own truth which is unique in itself. Bauji’s philosophy is not to believe anything that hasn’t been validated by his own experience. But when he tries to adopt this in his life, lot of events happen which is full of humour. Bauji’s eccentricities do embarrass his family at times. He does earn his gang of cronies.

Official Trailer:

Direction and Script Writing:
Another great work from the director Rajat Kapoor. The story (by Rajat Kapoor) has been presented in a thought provoking manner, yet very lightly. He engages the audience through this delightful work and quaint sense of humour. Dialogues have been carefully crafted. No element of preaching, yet would facilitate people to reason their own reasons.

Cast and their Performance:

What a delight to watch Sanjay Mishra as Bauji. Nobody else could have pulled Bauji’s character better than him, he has actually gone into the skin of the character.

Rajat Kapoor as Rishi (Bauji’s brother) has carried his reticent character so nicely. He is calm and at times ferocious and arrogant as well.

Seema Pahwa as Bauji’s wife is also great. She is very convincing – at times loud, at times very expressive, at times nagging, at times caring.

Rest of the ensemble cast also add lot of value to the plot and pitch in noticeable performances: Namit Das (Ajju), Manu Rishi Chadha (Sharmaji), Brijendra Kala (Shibbo Babu), Maya Sarao (Rita), Taranjit Kaur (Chachi),Chandrachoor Raj (Shammi), Alka Chawla (Sarup Bua), Mahesh Sharma (Bagga), Anil Chaudhary (Chaudhary Sahab), Shrikant Verma (Masterji), Manish Karnatak (Jeevan), Saurabh Shukla (Boss), Dhruv Singh (Dhruv), Danish Hussain (Gopi), Yogendra Tiku (Pandit), Chaitanya Mahawar (Ashok), Chetan Sharma (Anil), Shivam Sethi (Arun).

Cinematography:

Movie is shot at old Delhi’s location. Cinematographer Rafey Mahmood has captured the feel of Old Delhi & its narrow lanes wonderfully through his shots.

Music:

Music by Sagar Desai suits to the tone of the movie. Lyrics (by Varun Grover) are good.

Moments to watch out for:

There are many such moments: Bauji’s argument with one of his customer and Maths teacher, his bland & affable manners, his relationship with daughter (rather with family & neighbours), his way of looking at things, bauji going to zoo to check whether a tiger really roars etc.  

Thumbs up:      

Watch the movie for its thought-provoking theme and of course for Sanjay Mishra’s splendid performance. If you are offbeat movie lover, you must not miss this movie. You won’t get bored, guaranteed.

Thumbs down:

Probably no ‘Thumbs down’ moments.

One-Liner:

Aankhon Dekhi is to be experienced.

Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)