It is a pleasure watching Pankaj Kapur and a radiant Dimple Kapadia, two outstanding actors effortlessly portray complex emotions in Jab Khuli Kitaab, applauds Deepa Gahlot.
Some years ago, Saurabh Shukla wrote, directed and starred in a play called Jab Khuli Kitaab, about a man whose existence unexpectedly falls apart.
Now converted to a film, also directed by Shukla, the story retains the structure of a play, while also opening it out to show beautiful Ranikhet locations. Pankaj Kapur takes on the role Shukla had played and Dimple Kapadia plays his wife.
The story of Jab Khuli Kitaab
The premise has promise. How does a happy marriage of 50 years survive a shock that leads to a reassessment of the years gone by?
Gopal Nautiyal (Kapur) has been looking after his comatose wife Anusuya (Kapadia), beginning the day with a bright one-sided conversation with her.
They have raised three kids together. The mentally slow Dholu (Abuli Mamaji) lives with them, the older son Parmesh (Samir Soni) and daughter Sujata (Devyani Ratanpal) come visiting with their spouses (Nauheed Cyrusi, Sunil Palwal) and children when they learn that their mother is on her deathbed.
Anusuya suddenly and miraculously wakes up, and, so as not to carry any guilt with her, confesses to her husband that many years ago, she had a brief extra-marital affair. Gopal's feeling of betrayal is so great that he decides he wants a divorce.
'I cannot live on as your widower,' he says. Since he also discovers that he is not Parmesh's father, he suddenly starts mistreating him.
But divorce after 50 years of marriage is complicated. The client-chasing lawyer, Negi (Aparshakti Khurana) wants the case when pickings are slim in the peaceful town, but cannot understand why a moment of infidelity that occurred half a century ago has led to Gopal demanding an instant divorce from a dying wife.
More so, when Gopal does not want the reason to be revealed, and does not intend to actually live apart. Even the district magistrate (Manasi Parekh) is both amused and baffled.
A friendless Negi and embittered Gopal become drinking buddies and some of the funniest scenes are between the two of them. Turned crotchety by Anusuya's revelation, Gopal nevertheless renegotiates his relationship with her.
Their love and the life they built together is so solid that they cannot imagine life without each other, but the chasm that opened up in their marriage has to be healed.
Charming, gentle humour
Till the plot remains on the two seniors, it is full of charm, gentle humour and restrained drama. It tells the honest fact that even a happy marriage can hide secrets and compromises, that after 50 years, a couple may know each other's likes and dislikes, yet fail to read signs of sorrow or loneliness.
But the script needs to be stretched to fit in the preferred two-hour runtime, and the padding that has to do with the problems of the Nautiyal offspring, diffuses the magic the older couple has rustled up.
Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia are outstanding
It is a pleasure watching Pankaj Kapur and a radiant Dimple Kapadia, two outstanding actors effortlessly portray complex emotions.
Aparshakti Khurana shines in a small role, and has a sweet tragi-comic character, who didn't know what he was getting into when he met the Nautiyals.
Jab Khuli Kitaab streams on Z5.
Jab Khuli Kitaab Review Rediff Rating:
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