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Yun Hota To Kya Hota
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'Yun Hota To Kya Hota' An Interesting Film

By Naresh Kumar Deoshi
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

When an actor of high stature as Naseeruddin Shah goes behind the camera to direct a film, it is time to sit and take notice.

Shah, a master of the craft of acting, has given numerous exceptional performances in his career. And in his directorial debut, Yun Hota To Kya Hota, Shah emerges as someone more than just an actor’s director. He is more or less a consummate filmmaker who primarily tells a gripping story in a cinematic language quite non-typical of what we see in films from Bollywood.

Yun

Hota To Kya Hota holds out no special message of social or even individual relevance. But the movie does tell an interesting story of several characters, their dreams, their aspirations, and how it all ends with a tragedy (a real one) in a single stroke of fate.

Four different stories run parallel in the movie. The plot flits from one story to another in a well-lubricated way. The stories intersect as the characters in them cross paths. The culmination of the stories is somewhat a shocker. It speaks of the harsh, indigestible but irrefutable truth that life, or fate, can be unjust. Just when everything seems to be going fine, one single freak twist of destiny can change things upside down.

The day is August 31, 2001.

Story One : Tillotima (Konkana Sen) and Hemant (Jimmy Shergill) have been married for just two days and Hemant has to leave for the USA to keep his professional commitment. Theirs is a marriage set through the Internet. In Hemant’s absence Tillotima is to take care of his family, comprising of a bickering mom-in-law, a stoic father-in-law and Hemant’s sister – a loose tempered girl, jilted by her husband and hooked to sleeping pills. Tillotima tries hard to fit into the household but she can’t find acceptance among its members. She longs to be with her husband and therefore decides to leave for the US on a tourist visa.

Story Two : Khushboo (Ayesha Takia) and Rahul (Ankur Khanna) have an entertaining circle of friends. There is a US-returned guy who always pesters Rahul to come to the US to find a job. And there is a curly haired, shuddh Hindi speaking jokester (Imaad Shah) who is a thorough patriot. While Rahul harbours feelings for Khushboo, she treats him as a good friend and is not romantically committed to him. Rahul has an old, ailing father to take care of at home. He can’t leave for the US because there is no one else in his family to look after his sick father. But when the old man passes away, Khushboo insists Rahul to leave for the US to make a living there. Reluctantly, Rahul agrees and heads to the land of endless opportunities.

Story Three : Salim (Irfaan Khan) is a stockbroker having a secret affair with Namrata (Suhasini Mulay), an aged woman who wears raunchy outfits and performs western dances with a team of young robust men. Salim and his brother Javed’s visa for the US are ready. Salim wants Namrata to come with him to the US. When he visits her apartment at night, he finds her with another man. Shattered, Salim goes through the pangs of betrayal of his love. Later, he witnesses the murder of a top cop (Boman Irani) and has to flee to the US before his scheduled departure because he can become one of the murder suspects.

Story Four : Rajubhai Patel (Paresh Rawal) runs a dance troupe that performs in the US every year. A typical Gujarati businessman, Rajubhai runs a racket of illegally migrating people to the US under the garb of stage shows. Rajubhai’s old flame Tara (Ratna Pathak Shah) has a drunkard husband. She wants to send her daughter to the US. Rajubhai agrees to take the girl to the US in return of a hefty payment. One night, old sparks rekindle between Rajubhai and Tara. He returns her money and takes her daughter to the US with his dance troupe.

The four stories converge on the fateful day of September in 2001 that shook the entire America and the world. To reveal more would be spoiling the suspense. But it can be safely said that one terrible tragedy – a coincidence or fate, whatever you call it – alters people’s lives forever.

Naseeruddin Shah has made an interesting film in his directorial debut. Unlike some art movies that can be slow and boring, Naseer keeps his movie’s flow at an even pace, punctuated with sporadic moments of humour, romance, longing and despair. The dialogues are non-filmi and a mix of Hindi and English. Naseer also uses songs (just two) in stinted doses. The title song appears in bits at different places in the movie.

The acting performances in the film are top-class. Konkana Sen, Irfaan Khan and Jimmy Shergill show moments of histrionic brilliance. Paresh Rawal downplays his funny side and still evokes chuckles now and then. He looks perfectly like a Gujarati businessman. Ayesha Takia acquits herself well and Imaad Shah adds some humour to the proceedings.

In a nutshell, Yun Hota To Kya Hota is worth a watch.

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