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Star cast: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, master Aayan Boradia.
Plot: Rajat is at loggerheads with his difficult father, Ronit Roy. While Rajat wants to become a writer, his father wants him to study engineering and help him in his steel factory. Rajat also has a little step-brother whom he initially can’t stand but later starts liking.
What’s Good: Moments in the film; the bold scenes; dialogues; performances of the cast; Amit Trivedi’s music.
What’s Bad: The slow pace of the film and the repetitiveness.
Verdict: Low-budget Udaan will appeal to the youth in the big cities.
Loo break: Some repetitive scenes.
UTV Spotboy, Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Singh’s Udaan (UA) is the story of Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) who has an authoritarian father (Ronit Roy) with whom his views never match.
Rohan returns to his home in Jamshedpur after studying for eight years in a boarding school. He and his friends – Manu (Manjot Singh), Vikram (Raja Huda) and Binoy (Varun Khettry) – have been dismissed from school and all of them return to their respective homes. On his return, Rohan is surprised to know that he has a step-brother, Arjun (Aayan Boradia), who is six years old.
Rohan’s father is a completely insensitive human being. He wants Rohan to study engineering and help him in his steel factory. But Rohan, good at writing stories and poems, dreams of becoming a writer. Of course, the father pooh-poohs his aspirations, much to the boy’s annoyance. However, Rohan’s paternal uncle, Jimmy Singh (Ram Kapoor), is very supportive of him.
As days go by, Rohan feels suffocated in his dad’s house. Even his new friends in Jamshedpur (Anand Tiwari, Shaunak Sengupta and Akshay Sachdev) can’t divert his mind and bring him joy. Meanwhile, an incident brings Rohan closer to his step-brother.
Does Rohan ultimately tell his father that the steel factory routine is not for him? Does his father listen to him? Do Rohan, Arjun and their father live happily ever after like one family?
Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane’s script is very modern in thought. It has some extremely bold scenes which will be loved by the youngsters whom this film targets. However, the older generation will definitely not approve of bold scenes like Rohan smoking a cigarette in front of his father and the last sequence of Rohan and his father together.
The film gets very boring at places because of the slow pace. Therefore, even though there’s a scene every now and then, which startles the viewer, the impact is lost due to the painfully slow drama. Anurag Kashyap’s dialogues are superb.
Rajat Barmecha does a good job in his debut film. Ronit Roy is splendid. He plays his role to perfection. Master Aayan Boradia is first-rate. Not only is he cute but his acting is also wonderful. Ram Kapoor lends very able support. Manjot Singh (as sardar Manu) is excellent and one misses his presence after the school scenes are over. Anand Tiwari (as the most talkative friend in Jamshedpur) is very endearing and entertaining. Raja Huda and Varun Khettry are natural as the pals in school. Shaunak Sengupta (as Motu) and Akshay Sachdev play the Jamshedpur friends with conviction. Suman Mastkar is fabulous as the old patient in the hospital.
Vikramaditya Motwane’s direction is good but it is of the kind which will appeal more to the class audience. Amit Trivedi’s music is excellent. ‘Azaadiyaan’, ‘Geet mein dhalte lafzon mein’, ‘Kahani’ and ‘Naav chadhti’ are both, meaningful (lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya) and melodious. Mahendra Shetty’s cinematography is good. Dipika Kalra’s editing is excellent.
On the whole, low-budgeted Udaan is a bold film which has the merits to appeal to the youth but only in select cities. However, its poor promotion and dull initial will definitely tell on its box-office prospects.
By Komal Nahta
