REVIEW: Paulwaat

A LOST WORLD

Paulwaat is a fable about philosophical issues that human beings have grappled with forever and will do so till the end of time. The purpose and meaning of life, aspects of love, relationships, struggle, success and so on. At this level it's a wonderful film that throws together a bunch of characters, not bound by blood or any conventional ties, who develop inexplicable bonds with one another. Their own families and engagement with the world at large receed to the background and become almost inconsequential beyond a point.

The protagonist Anant Dev (Subodh Bhave), a struggling singer from Sangli, comes to Mumbai to pursue a career in the music industry. His friend brings him to Akka (Jyoti Chandekar) a lonely widow who lives by herself in a sprawling house (where, in Mumbai are there such wonderfully idyllic houses and not even enveloped by the cacophony and bustle of the city?). She takes him in as a paying guest. Her next-door neighbour, Nene, is her only friend. Nene's niece Revati (Madhura Velankar Satam) lives with him and she completes the picture of this quasi family. 

Anant's story runs along a familiar course. He's bright, upright and determined to succeed on the merit of his talent alone. He's also innocent enough to believe that his perseverance will be justly rewarded. Director and co-writer Aditya Ingale has lots to say -- about the commercialisation of art, devaluation of classicism in every aspect of life, loss of values and so on. His characters, in that sense, are not individuals, but ideals.

A classic case is the sarangi player Usman (Kishore Kadam miscast as a much older man, but a competent act nonetheless) whom Anant befriends. Usman was brought to Mumbai by O P Nayyar and managed to get a foothold in the music industry. But for freelance musicians, life is always hanging in balance. A fate echoed by Usman's wife (Seema Deo in a rare cameo), once a small-time actress, and now just a bitter old woman who can't look back on her life without regret and has nothing to move on to.

Akka too is trapped in the past, in memories of her dead husband and her unfulfilled desires. The point is, discontent is an inevitable aspect of human life. And Ingale reiterates this more than once. There is no remedy but to try and live as cheerfully as possible in the present.

What makes Paulwaat problematic is the director's decision to locate it specifically in place and time and then totally negating the realities of either. Life in Mumbai is chaotic and fraught with a multitude of difficulties. In Anant's case, his problems are limited to his inability to get a break. In Akka's case to her loneliness. But both would have likely had far more difficulties if they were actually living in contemporary Mumbai.

Akka's relatives would have hounded her for a stake in her property or land sharks would have swooped down on it. Anant would've been crushed not just in spirit, but also in over-crowded trains and buses travelling from one studio to the next. And all these people who manage to spend all their free time together (to the exclusion of their own families who, mysteriously we never see), would just be running around to make ends meet and hence wouldn't find the patience or kindness in their hearts to deal with each other's problems.

If the film had been left to its idealism in a fictional world, it would've been a beautiful tale of all the things we aught to reflect on and cherish, but don't. As it is, it's naive, yet heart-warming. Just like the people it portrays so fondly. And for the joy of inspired performances from Bhave and Chandekar and the rare pleasure of a new Asha Bhosale song, it's definitely worth a watch.