Uunchai Movie Review: Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher Film An Intense Tribute To Friendship, But Unbearably Long

This Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher, Parineeti Chopra, starrer is high on emotion, slow in pace, a genre-reverser film about life, relationships and coming to terms with old age.

New Delhi: 'Uunchai' is like a documentation of what an intense trekking experience amidst the wilderness of Himalayas feels like. This template is then married to the family-entertainment genre of the Barjatya school of filmmaking which emphasises heightened emotions and drama. The Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Parineeti Chopra, Danny Denzongpa, and Sarika starrer is high on emotion, slow in pace, a genre-reverser film about life, relationships and coming to terms with old age. What really hurts is how each of the subject matter is treated chronologically in order to spoon-feed an audience which is smart enough to understand layers, nuances and landscape change without drilling it into their heads.

'Uunchai' begins with a voiceover narration of Amitabh Bachchan telling the intent of the film in the very beginning. The film opens in the beautiful landscape of Nepal where we are introduced to all characters until each of their life with all its layers is gradually unfolded in the process of the film.

From here the narrative and landscape shifts to Delhi and the backstory of four aged-friends is revealed. Soon after, one friend passes away, the other three try to fulfill his last wish by trekking to the base camp of Mount Everest.

The gradual unfurling of emotions, and each of characters' backstory is weaved very organically into the text, a commendable move in a film which has a lot of noise, particularly with this dominating force of a background score and with music: one song thrust upon another.

As great as it is to see veteran actors with such craft on screen come together, there are major problems with 'Uunchai' that even they cannot address.

The plot is given-away from the very beginning with this need to tell and not show. Every scene which could have added a layer of anticipation is shared with the audience helping diminish the interest in the film slowly. What keeps you going ( at least for me) was the anticipation of the beautiful landscape of the trek which begins only the second half.

So, the first-half of 'Uunchai' is unbearably long trying to establish characters, locations, why the actors do what they do etc. etc. The use of framing and the break into 'Keti Ko' song is nice; in fact the one thing to see in the first half is the song, it has a feel-good element attached to it despite the artificiality of emotions on display.

Perhaps, the pace of the film is toned down to suit the genre-reversal of a road trip which is usually filled with adventures etc. to suit the three-aged men on screen. Or, that the layering of life-drama on each of the character's backstory naturally slows down the pace of 'Uunchai'.

But, 'Uunchai' has moments and sequences which stand out. There are small incidents that have an organic flavour of comedy and drama to them, which will naturally bring a smile to your face or tears to your eyes. For instance; Anupam Kher putting food into the mouth of Amitabh Bachchan or Neena Gupta's possessive zeal to overcare for her husband, played by Boman Irani etc. Barring these, it's more like a marathon for which you need immense patience until the end.

So, perhaps, a documentary style of filmmaking would have more suited the syntax of a film like 'Uunchai'.

However, there are some ideological stances and debates that are dealt with quite practically ( almost in a moral lecture sort of way) but the way such matters are dealt with stand out. The slow revelation of glitches in parents-kids relationship and the non-judgmental attitude to take when dealing with them , for instance, or the way one comes to terms with the reality of aging and a deterioration of the body when the mind wants more... etc.

As for actor performances, Anupam Kher, Amitabh Bachchan and Boman Irani ace their parts as do Neena Gupta, Sarika and Parineeti Chopra. The dramatic tangent is slightly high in all of them but perhaps the need of the script or the hour or the director is the reason why that is so.

The post-interval 'Uunchai' is much faster, rooted and real. It opens with a good cathartic sequence in Gorakhpur and from there in Kathmandu, giving each of its characters a moment to shine. 

Parineeti Chopra is present in the post-interval film and much under-utilized than her potential.

The second-half of 'Uunchai' also happens to be high on the emotional tangent with extraordinary physical and mental challenges that the protagonists face in the Himalayas to come to terms with their lives.

Towards the climax, when the film enters the snow-landscape of the Everest Base Camp, the shots begin to feel unclear and unreal. A filmy grained sequence captures the essence of the climax where a lot of fog amidst mountains feels something out of an old Hindi film song sequence. Besides this, there is barely an experiment with the form of the film.

'Uunchai' ends with the cringiest end-credits song sequence teaching audiences to live life to the fullest in all honesty. The template of the film follows the conventional three-act structure with the monotony of predictability and over dramatic music, narration and dialogue to complement it. But for the performances of veterans in a different light, 'Uunchai' is a bearable watch of a film, but too long for a feature-film with this kind of content.