October - Movie Review

When I first saw the trailer of this Shoojit Sircar directorial, 'October', there wasn't much that I could infer - there was a certain mystery around the plot. Starring Varun Dhawan and debutante Banita Sandhu, this movie is a beautiful play of emotions, which are gloomy yet beautiful. It is a simple wafer-thin plot narrated so poignantly that you start feeling for the characters.

Daniel 'Dan' Walia (played superbly by Varun Dhawan) is a hotel management trainee with a 5-star hotel in Delhi. He is not your regular plain Joe nor does he have his quirks - he is a below average, temperamental employee who does not have his heart in his work. Shiuli Iyer (played by Banita Sandhu) is a junior trainee at the same hotel, who is his exact opposite - a no non-sense, friendly and hard working 20-year old girl. Due to a freak accident, Banita is grievously injured with remote chances of recovery. She is not a close friend of Dan, but there is something that draws him to her, in spite of the vegetative state that she is in! 

As rightly mentioned in the trailer, it is not a love story. But the chemistry and equation that Dan and Shuili share is beautiful. There are no songs or dream sequences. Just plain and subtle nuances that show Dan developing a deep emotional bond with Shuili. Not just the lead pair, even the brilliantly written supporting characters add so much weight to the story that none of the minor sub-plots seem unnecessary.  

The three stars of this movie are Shoojit Sircar, Juhi Trivedi and Varun Dhawan. In the last few movies that I reviewed, my constant complain has been that film-makers do not use alternative techniques of narratives to shorten the length of the movie. Shoojit Sircar, though makes the pace a little sluggish in the middle, uses various alternate techniques. For example, the Manali sequence is entirely shown with a background conversation between Dan and Shuili's mother, thus reducing the length. Juhi Chaturvedi delivers a simple story so beautifully through her extremely well-written screenplay and dialogues. And lastly, Varun Dhawan - this is undeniably his best performance till date. He makes you fall in love with Dan, in spite of his idiosyncrasies. He delivers a very nuanced and subdued performance and shows so much restrain in his demeanor. While he did showcase his acting prowess in his earlier films as well, especially Badlapur, October is what Highway was for Alia Bhatt! It is commendable that he played a subdued character, at a time when his contemporaries are busy flaunting their torsos in mindless action comedies. Banita is decent, but due to the limitations of her character, she does not get to show her acting skills much. Gitanjali Rao as Shuili's mother, Vidya Iyer is a great find and is brilliant. Also, a special mention to the cinematographer, Avik Mukhpadhyay for creating a gloom filled environment that looks painful, yet comforting.

There is a message of caution though: October is NOT meant for everyone. It is a slow, yet engaging movie, but if your patience levels are low and you find difficulty in comprehending emotions, then you may choose to skip this film. But if you are a sucker for great story-telling and craft, this is a Must-Watch!

My Rating - 4/5

P.S: The beautiful conversation towards the end explaining Shiuli and its meaning is one of my favorite sequences from the movie. It metaphorically explains the gist of the movie.