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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ** 1/2
A rebellious teenage daughter Kavita (Mrunmayee Lagoo) of a traumatised couple
doesn`t know what to do with her life. So she takes off on a journey away from
home with a lonely, neglected but brave middle-aged woman to Goa where she saves
turtles... and herself.
Kavita goes home redeemed. We are not so sure about ourselves. We remain partly
involved but largely distanced from this ambitious but flawed look at life
through the eyes of teen rebellion.
Director Raja Unninathan has his heart in the right place. He creates a world of
gossipy, sweaty parties, tacky repartees and one-night stands for Kavita. But
the words sound more like replications of the emotional outbursts associated
with the generation gap rather than actual situations created in a specific
crisis.
A more authentic parent-child crisis would be the one in Wake Up Sid
or better still the television soap Ladies Special where two very
talented actors Shilpa Tulaskar and Sandeep Kulkarni played harassed parents
grappling with a rebellious teenage daughter. We empathised with their
helplessness.
In Hello Zindagi, Neena Gupta and Kanwaljeet Singh specially the
latter are in fine form as Kavita`s parents. But the writing constantly lets all
the actors down.
The one performer who manages to hold her head above the material provided is
Kitu Gidwani. playing the dignified unloved but outwardly well-to-do wife,
Gidwani epitomizes grace under pressure.
Her section of the film with her indifferent though not cruel husband (Amit Behl)
has some interesting moments, like the one where Gidwani goes into the kitchen
to get coffee made by her husband and then pours it quietly down the sink.
Gidwani`s journey to Goa with the rebellious Kavita is charted with affection.
Very rarely do we get to see a movie so gentle and warm about female bonding
over differing generations. What Gidwani shares with the debutante Mrunmayee
Lagoo echoes Jessica Tandy`s bonding with Bridget Fonda in Deepa Mehta`s
Camilla.
Except that Gidwani and the girl don`t go skinny-dipping. The blackest spot in
the film is its lack of sexual energy. The character`s are almost invariably
frigid in their thoughts and desires. A thwarted indecisiveness runs across the
narrative profile rendering the characters weak and unconvincing.
The save-the-turtles message at the end seems forced.
Nonetheless there`s enough tenderness and warmth in the relationships shared by
Mrunmayee with her screen-dad Kanwaljeet and Kitu Gidwani to make the film worth
a watch.
Hello Zindagi doesn`t bowl you over. But it makes you smile even
when the debutant director displays that trite and selfconscious social purpose
that makes the film look like a documentary on how to save teenagers and turtles
when they don`t want to be saved without drowning in the attempt.