Udaan [2010]: A Great Film by First Time Director Vikramaditya Motwane

Do you know, what is it, that Orson Welles, Satyajit Ray, Jim Sheridan, Kevin Costner, Quentin Tarantino, Brad Bird and Ben Affleck have in common? It is the fact that they all had a great debut as directors. Now I won’t talk about how they went ahead later in their careers in this post, but certainly they were all equally great first time directors, they were simply fantastic. One of the recent addition to this list is Vikramaditya Motwane who made his first film Udaan in 2010.  Udaan is a coming of age story of Rohan, played by Rajat Barmecha, also a debutant. Rohan is 16, an aspiring writer at heart, expelled from boarding school and returns to his father’s place in the city of Jamshedpur. His father, who he hasn't met in the last 8 years, is not your regular dad, he is strict, he is authoritarian and he prefers being called “sir” over dad.  During these 8 years, when Rohan was in hostel, he fathered another son, to his 2nd marriage. Rohan’s half brother Arjun [Aayan Boradia] is merely 6 years old but is living a similar life as Rohan; dictated by their father, calling him Sir and in the process the two step brothers bond well without much of a conversation. Rohan’s father, Bhairav Singh, played by Ronit Roy is an essentially heartless man. Ronit Roy’s portrayal as the father is pure evil. Initially, you will like to believe he is a little unconventionally strict father but as the movie progresses, you will be shocked at his ruthlessness at different points of time. Surprisingly Rohan’s uncle [his dad's brother] supports him, he understands Rohan and wants him to pursue whatever his heart says. But that never helped him set things right in his life. Ronit Roy as Bhairav Singh has perhaps done the greatest performance of his life playing the monstrous father. Rajat Barmecha as Rohan was equally great doing every bit of his role to perfection, his fractured teenage made him stronger every new day. Udaan is produced by the great Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who often shows traits of Tarantino and Scorsese in his own works and is known for directing films like Gulaal, Gangs of Wasseypur, Black Friday and DevD. Vikramaditya Motwane didn’t let down Anurag in his first film and later he made another good film Lootera in 2013 produced by Anurag Kashyap. Udaan means flight or better say fly high. And certainly Udaan is a high flyer in the Indian film industry. Udaan came in 2010 and if you haven’t watched it by now, you must watch it. Highly recommended. Movie Geek’s Rating: ★★★★ Cast: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Aayan Boradia, Ram Kapoor Directed by: Vikramaditya Motwane ------------------------- Author: Amritt Rukhaiyaar [This post is a part of the A to Z Challenge in April 2014. Let's celebrate blogging.]