Home Run Sperm (Vicky Donor)

I find myself pondering over ‘what is it that I am thinking about from the movie?’. That is the key to what holds and what all slips away. Then, I would know if I carry the people and the story they inhabit within me..or I let it pass, I open my palm and let it fly off…or I savour it as a keepsake in some corner, to be randomly re-discovered one fine day and then spend some snatched moments on looking it over.

Vicky sticks..but as an en-masse. His mother, Dolly, Biji (of course). Dr. Chaddha – they all collectively are an identity to reckon with. You don’t look at any of them in isolation and I think that is why the film works. They are set in their moulds, embellished in an environment, the collaborative products of their histories and their presents..and the fact that you, the audience, are not able to distill them into disparate elements makes the story and its inhabitants come alive, breathe, love, fear, gloat, reason out, escape, face you square in the eyes, without either squinting. The characters, grip you and move you through their escapades and you sit around and sip their chais and clink glasses of whisky and partake from their slice of life. And the movie grows around you and starts to slip in with you..and you carry it back home, almost unknowingly, as comfortingly as your house keys, your mobile phone (the one that is on mute and does not intervene).

That is what I remember about the movie. I don’t find the lengths that Dr. Chaddha goes to make it work for Vicky even slightly over-the-top. Heck, I expect it of him. I wouldn’t claim to know that man if he hadn’t tried to make it right. I don’t ever question the un-real strength of Vicky’s mother (the Iron lady) and therefore, the understated derivative strength and commitment of Vicky’s love. Biji is a work of art, old wine, to be cherished and savoured. They don’t make them like her anymore. Chaman, Aashima, Pishi, Bongs, Punjabis, refugees, neighbours, Taujis, everybody..they are the details without which all would be incomplete although you would never be able to put a finger on what was missing.

They, the makers of this film, have got it all right. Life is exactly what it looks like in the story and yes, the story too, very much like life, has a happy ending..filled with love, goodness and magic that works…almost everytime.

This sperm of an idea hits home with the egg and creates an organism that weaves its tale with simplicity and conviction. RESPECT.