Ventilator - A Marathi movie

I got a chance to watch a Marathi movie called “Ventilator” which was released in Maharashtra a few months ago. The name suggests a heavy, tear jerking hospital drama which depicts something about person who is on a ventilator in the hospital waiting for the D-day. But it was anything but that. It is a nice, humorous take on that one day when a person called Gajju kaka gets ill and his whole clan gets to the hospital to lend support to his immediate family with their own secret agendas.

Ashutosh Gowarikar, the director of Lagaan plays a part in that movie who is the nephew of Gajju kaka and he had got his uncle’s help when he started his life in a new city. But he has bitterness for his own father and it is the same case with Gajju kaka’s son who thinks his father does not love him or appreciate him at all. That character is played by the brilliant Marathi actor, Jeetendra Joshi. In the movie, he plays a character disillusioned by a political person and in the process gets away from his family.

These two cousins have a personal demon to fight (simmering in anger with their respective fathers) and they are surrounded by the non-stop and nonsense clatter of their relatives which and everyone has their own things to discuss in the so-called family meeting cum crisis. It is so hilarious to see each and every character playing their own small story, going tangent to everyone else’s. All the characters have played their character to the T. There is a mix of emotions and laughs and tears. I enjoyed watching all commotion and ensemble of this crazy family which I never had or will never have.

At the end, a decision has to be taken to remove the Ventilator as it won’t bring Gajju Kaka back to good health. His son signs the declaration and then stumbles upon the fact narrated by his uncle that his father had fought all the odds at his birth and had taken that 1% chance to save his new-born premature son and had put him through the best doctors and saved his life. All the grudges, the walls come rumbling down and the son realizes that he wants his father back to talk to him and to tell him how much he loved him and missed him all these years. He goes to the ICU room where his father is to tell the doctors not to remove the Ventilator and that he wants to take the small chance that fate might want to give him. His cousin, Ashutosh also realizes that his father after all did everything that was the best of his capacity. He also forgives himself and his father and gets talking normally.

Few last scenes were so good, I remembered my own father and thanked him for being my father. His relationship with his father, my grandfather was more of a serious and respect kind. They were not close or talking pals like me and my father are. Is it different with sons and their fathers? Why is that relationship little complicated? Why can’t sons and fathers be close and open with each other? Maybe it will change with my son’s generation. My husband and my son are extremely close and I wish they remain friends for a life-time. Men of my generation share very different dynamics with their fathers, they are quiet in each others presence, they don’t laugh or talk or share with each other. There is an unseen wall between them, some unseen tension. Maybe the relation demands respect and silence, but it does get awkward at some point of time. Time and open hearts and minds and a willingness to strike a conversation and connect might change this age old scenario.

And yes, forgot to mention, this movie is produced by Priyanka Chopra and her mother and we all know how close Priyanka was to her father who passed away some years ago. She plays a small part in the movie and it is heartwarming to see her talk in Marathi. A very nice movie indeed and I enjoyed it a lot! There are many movies made on father and daughter relationship, but very few like this movie which talks on fathers and sons.

This particular song in the movie brought tears in my eyes. Do listen if you understand Marathi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUS3s-Xp38Q

All the sons of my generation and fathers of my father’s generation should see it ;)