Rahul Review {1.5/5} & Review Rating
"My mother was a wicked woman. She did not love me."
This is how little Rahul (Master Yash Pathak) knows his mother. His father, Akash (Jatin Grewal), told him and he believed it. She left him and his father immediately after Rahul's birth and he never found out why. All he knew was that she was wicked enough to have left them and that she was a taboo topic at home.
Rahul and his father Akash lived, cooked, sang, exercised, fought, laughed and cried together. Their's was a complete family, a place where two men (and Rahul was definitely a man at 5) led a life of complete harmony. Rahul could toast bread for his father, lay the table and even polish his shoes on his own.
Every morning he saw his father off to work at the bus depot, for Akash ran a travel agency by himself, and then walked off to school. He had Jumbo and a 9-year-old Isha (Tanvi Hegde) for friends, while his drawing kept him company at other times. Isha amazed him with her 'magic' and Rahul was slave to her every idea, every piece of advice Isha had in store for him. His world didn't seem to need a mother.
And then, one sunny afternoon in church, he discovered that his mother wasn't the wicked one he had imagined at all. In fact, she seemed to remember him every day of those five years and continues to love him dearly. Ever since he finds this out from John (Gulshan Grover), a local grocery man, Rahul has a plan to meet his mother, Meera (Neha).
When he does, he discovers that she indeed loves him and is overwhelmed to have him back. Yet, she never wants to meet his father ever again. Reconciliation between them seems unfeasible.
Meanwhile, Akash decides to marry winsome Sheela (Rajeshwari Sachdev), while Meera is being wooed by the gentle Naveen (Mahesh Thakur). A double marriage seems to be on the cards and every attempt of Rahul and Isha to thwart these inevitabilities proves unsuccessful.
On Rahul's fifth birthday, his mother plans to file for custody, while his father plans to get married to counter the lawsuit. Who will Rahul opt for?
This is the adult world of dilemmas, anger, betrayal, hurt and humiliation that Rahul has to deal with and he has no clue how to go about it. All he knows is that he loves both his parents equally and wants nothing more than having them together again.
The story of RAHUL reminds you of two movies that tackled a similar theme ? MASOOM and AKELE HUM AKELE TUM. The dilemma of a child, who sees his parents at loggerheads, have been witnessed earlier, but this time the parents are divorced and are all set to enter into a new relationship.
There are certain things that need to be kept in mind when you attempt a film of this genre:-
* One, the narrative has to be rich in emotions;
* Two, the length of the film has to be concise;
* Three, the separation of the parents and the anguish of the child has to be handled with sensitivity.
The problem here is that the film holds your attention in parts. A few emotional scenes are well canned (Rahul and Neha having the first eye contact can be singled out!), but the drama does not make you emotional after the show has ended. And that's purely because what could've been conveyed in 13 reels has been stretched to 17 reels.
Director Prakash Jha seems influenced by MASOOM and AKELE HUM AKELE TUM. The scenes between the father and child bear resemblance to the latter, while the banter between Rahul and another kid, Isha, is similar to what was depicted in MASOOM.
As a director, Jha has been successful in extracting a wonderful performance from the child artiste, but the screenplay has some loose ends. Even the climax is long-drawn-out and tends to get too melodramatic.
The main flaw of the script is that the ground for separation of the parents is too flimsy. Moreover, the father is always shown badmouthing the mother in front of the kid, which does not give a pleasant feeling at all. It makes the hero's character negative, when it is not meant to be.
Anu Malik's music is easy on the ears, but the placement of songs is improper. The songs sound melodious on hearing, but should've been placed appropriately. At least one number can easily be deleted to make the goings-on crisper ? 'Souten'.
The pick of the lot is 'Ae Kaash Aisa Hota' (sung brilliantly by Ustad Sultan Khan) and 'Chhed Na Mujhko'. Cinematography (Arvind K.) is fair. Dialogues (Farhan) are well worded.
If RAHUL belongs to anyone, it's to the 5-year-old child artiste, Yash Pathak. The gamut of emotions displayed by the kid astonishes you. Natural and spontaneous, the kid is simply adorable and a delight to watch.
New-find Jatin Grewal is absolutely wooden. He maintains one expression throughout and fails to register any kind of an impact. However, the newcomer has screen presence and looks handsome throughout. Neha is just about okay, displaying a spark only towards the climax.
Gulshan Grover gives a good account of himself. Rajeshwari Sachdev gives the right expressions. Mahesh Thakur has no role to talk of. Tanvi Hegde (as Isha) delivers a spirited performance.
On the whole, RAHUL is not as impactful as it should've been. Weak in merits and face-value, the film will have a bumpy ride at the box-office.