Anumati (The Consent) is a film directed by prolific Marathi filmmaker Gajendra Ahire, who at one particular point had almost 11 films in various stage of production. Gajendra Ahire always seems to take interesting subjects for his films, but rarely is he able to sketch out the subject and if you add to that his substandard production values, you can skip most of his films. At the same time I was looking forward to watch Anumati as it is produced by the makers of Shaala, which in my view is one of the best Indian films in recent times.
Anumati follows the story of retired teacher Ratnakar Pathare (Vikram Gokhale) who is coming to terms with the fact that his comatose wife Madhu (Neena Kulkarni) may or may not survive. Also the ballooning medical expenses are cause of worry for Ratnakar, as he will be running out of funds within 4 days. His son Chandrakant (Subodh Bhave) urges him to give consent for DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) so that Madhu is removed from her life support. The dilemma for Ratnakar is that her doctors still have not given upon their hopes. Ratnakar decides not to sign the form, which causes strain in relationship between father and son.
Rest of the film follows how a desperate Ratnakar runs from pillar to post to raise funds for his wife’s hospital bill. We are witness to the camaraderie between Ratnakar and Madhu in non-linear fashion, how they decide to build a retirement home in Konkan instead of buying a home in a Maharashtarian middle class suburb like Dombivili as Madhu is tired of living in a match box sized home. It is very rare to see an Indian film which shows romance between two senior citizens, that too with such restrain and maturity, these are the few scenes which are highlights of the film.
Reema Lagoo makes a cameo as the childhood friend of Ratnakar; this is one of the most beautiful scenes of the movie, where they talk about death as reality which people are willing to accept. We get to see how Reema gracefully accepts death of her spouse. The scene again ends in confusion to our dismay.
While the film deals with contentious issue of failing Public health System in India, and the apathy towards senior citizens in India, you cannot help but cringe when you have clichéd melodramatic scenes like grandchildren offering money from their piggy banks or when Ratnakar’s daughter offers her gold bangles.
On the acting front, the only well etched character is that of Vikram Gokhale and he does justice to his character. Subodh Bhave in a brief role as son, is okay and is one-dimensional. The character if played rightly could have been a great grey character but ends up being negative character in the film, but then again the blame lies on the screenplay. Sai Tamhankar sheds bikini and wears a saree for this role, but fails to impress us. Kishore Kadam is so brilliant, while he is on screen you do not feel like watching anyone else; he has been consistently doing some good work for past few years and is an actor to watch out for.
The only reason you should watch this film is because of Vikram Gokhale. He won the National Award for Best Actor with his performance in Anumati. Though no doubt he is a good actor this is not anyway his best effort.
On paper Anumati must have looked brilliant, but alas the execution is altogether a different story.
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