Aligarh Review  

Aligarh: Don't you dare watch this movie if homosexuality makes you laugh or mocking like 'gay'…  

Aligarh: Don't you dare watch this movie if homosexuality makes you laugh or mocking like 'gay' makes you feel more macho.. Aligarh is a powerfully sensitive cinema, never ever dared before on the canvas of Bollywood.. Aligarh is like that hot lava cake which will melt you with it's incredible portrayal of a person who is a homosexual, yet an outcast, he is blessed with the notion of love, yet afraid of the society, who is declared an immoral, yet teaches us lessons of morality which no book can.. Manoj Bajpayee has delivered a scintillating performance of a lifetime, which I am sure very few actors can even dream of achieving.. He shivers, he cries, he shouts, he hides like a cat, he loves, he lives.. he inspires. If India should send one movie to Oscars this year, it has to be Aligarh. 5/5 (Warning: This is a sensitive cinema  

Bollywood is definitely evolving experimenting on different and unique subjects. The silver lining…  

Bollywood is definitely evolving experimenting on different and unique subjects. The silver lining is the untold stories of various characters and events which were lost in time is being brought back with sheer devotion and sincerity. January started with a bang releasing the story of evacuation of 1,70,000 Indians from Kuwait in Airlift and February followed with a gallant story of flight attendant rescuing 359 passengers from terrorist-hijacked plane in Neerja. After giving National Award winning film Shahid, Hansal Mehta is back with yet riveting bio-pic drama Aligarh that raises the question on self-righteousness and breaking the barrier. Aligarh tells the true story in which Manoj Bajpayee plays a homosexual professor Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras at the Aligarh University who is suspended from his job when he is caught in a sting operation. Last year, it was Manjhi-The Mountain Man, Bajirao Mastani followed by Airlift and Neerja. The best part of watching these biographies is the inspiring and motivating stories which has resulted to outstanding appreciation from both audience and critics. It takes courage and guts to make a film like Aligarh. The movie opens with a bang giving you goose-bumps. As the movie progress, you will be sucked into the film and the entire credit goes to Hansal Mehta for doing a fantastic research on the event which changed life of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras. The court room- drama, friendship between Manoj Bajpai and Rajkumar Rao and even the climax sequences are definitely the highlight of the film. Screenplay is engaging. Art direction and cinematography is simple yet powerful. Manoj Bajpai has delivered a solid performance. He fits into the character as if it was tailor-made for him. Rajkumar Rao lends in a good support. A big thumbs up for brilliant direction, admiring performances and electrifying screenplay.  

Hansal Mehta's Aligarh comes at an important time when the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of…  

Hansal Mehta's Aligarh comes at an important time when the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of reopening the debate on gay rights in India. The film has its own pace and fabric as it narrates the story of 64 year old Prof Siras of Aligarh University who was suspended from the organization for being a homosexual. Based on a true story, Hansal Mehta touches upon several issues and topics apart from gay rights in this two hour long biopic. Manoj Bajpayee plays Siras who teaches Marathi in Aligarh University. An incident changes his life overnight when members of his staff intrude his house and catch him having sex with another man. He's immediately labelled an outcast and suspended from his position. What follows is the entry of Deepu (Rajkummar Rao) a journalist who takes interest in Siras's case and wants to throw light on his situation. All through the film, there are long drawn moments of silence and pauses that like poetry have meaning if you let them seep into your consciousness. Aligarh is more than just a film about gay rights. It documents the human spirit, and the freedom it struggles to sustain despite its oppressive surroundings. Aligarh is a story of hope and innocence in a time when prejudice and judgement substitutes compassion and kindness. Yes, it is also a story of gay rights, but more so it is a tale of human rights. Mehta has used Siras as a metaphor to highlight optimism in a time of a pessimistic environment. There are moments in the film where you feel more than just empathy and compassion for Siras. What works for the film are the stellar performances. Rajkummar Rao who is Mehta's muse delivers yet again. His Deepu is curious and hungry for knowledge. At the very same time he's also childlike and naive. His scenes with Manoj are terrific and a lot of his communication happens through his eyes and body language. Manoj Bajpayee gives the performance of a lifetime. Not letting Siras become a caricature or an object of empathy he breathes in life and color even in the weakest scenes. The stutter, pauses, anger, sorrow, an amalgamation of emotions fill up the screen. Mehta is a storyteller and he stands by his signature style of taking time to build the story in Aligarh. The film isn't without hiccups. There are some scenes that drag on. Siras listening to his favourite Lata Mangeshkar tracks gets a bit repetitive. Also it would have been interesting to get some background of where he's from and what his childhood was like. The end might seem abrupt to those who haven't read any material on the case. Also Deepu's track with his editor seemed like an effort to throw in a few light moments in an otherwise serious setting. Aligarh needs to be watched. It is serious cinema and you need to be patient with the pace. But if you give into Mehta's storytelling and let Siras charm you with his innocence then Aligarh will become an instant favourite. A film about human divinity and rights about anything else, Aligarh is high on my recommendation list. After Sonam Kapoor's Neerja last week, here's another gem that definitely should be your movie of the week!  

Aligarh was chosen as the opening film of the Mumbai Film Festival and I went to see it wondering…  

Aligarh was chosen as the opening film of the Mumbai Film Festival and I went to see it wondering if the story, based on real life events, had been sanitized for the screen. To the screenplay writer and director's credit it has not. The sad story of 64 year old Professor Sirus, who was suspended and systematically harassed by Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for having gay sex with a cycle-rickshaw driver, has been told here in all its poignancy. In it's time, it was a big case for gay rights in India, but Sirus was a frustratingly difficult protagonist, an unattractive personage unwillingly to face the media, unwilling to identify as gay, unable to see the larger issues at stake. Manoj Bajpayee does an excellent job in the complex role of the unhappy Sirus, with all its contradictions. He's shown drinking excessively every night, listening to maudlin Lata Mangeshkar songs. I don't know if Rajkumar Rao is based on a real-life character, but he plays a crucial role as the reporter who tries to draw Sirus out of his shell. He only party succeeds. For one, Sirus was very proud of his position as professor of Marathi at AMU and he was very loyal to AMU itself. He tells Rao he the victim of campus politics because he was promoted to chair the linguistics department, provoking petty jealousies. People knew he was homosexual and used it against him, sending two goons to break into his house to film him having sex. What followed was a downward spiral, but Hansal Mehta somehow manages to keep things from getting too depressing. One interesting scene has the now famous Professor Sirus being invited to a sophisticated gay gathering while in the city, where his newfound fans insist he sing a Marathi song. He does so, rather badly, and then collapses drunk.