Movie Review - Tu Hai Mera Sunday by Suhel Johar

Tu Hai Mera Sunday Comes Like A Breath Of Fresh Air

Debutante writer- director Milind Dhaimade’s Tu Hai Mera Sunday is an urban-alienation drama delivered with a vigorous and fresh spin. The film, speaking a language rooted in reality, draws a vibrant portrait of the diversity of suburban life in Mumbai even as it probes the many challenges that the middle class in a bustling city bursting at the seams has to face day in and day out.

In Urban life, everyone knows the value of a Sunday. A quality time with our loved ones, fuels us to survive the entire week. Tu Hai Mera Sunday, revolves around five friends who just want to play football on Sundays, to rejuvenate their energies after a hectic week at work and other duties they have had to perform during the week. In a broad sense, Tu Hai Mera Sunday is the story of five buddies looking for space in Mumbai to play football, a game that brings them together every Sunday. Juhu beach is their favoured playground until a minor mishap renders the place out of bounds. So after being banned on Juhu beach, they search for a new place to play football. Housing society compounds chock-a-block with parked cars, rain drenched terraces and not-so-deserted lanes serve as alternative sites, but none of them has the potential to be permanent.

Throughout this search, it's interesting to see how the story unfolds. By showing you all the up and downs in their lives of these five friends, TMSH give you a glimpses of a middle class person's daily life and routine in Mumbai's fast paced life. Most of the audience will feel connected to the movie at various points.

The friends shown in TMSH are not friends from the school or college, they are friends of different background and different ages. The leader of this group of friends is the self-effacing Arjun Anand (Barun Sobti), a Nagpur guy who’s been in Mumbai for 12 years. Having opted out of the corporate rat race in pursuit of happiness, he seeks self-fulfilment in the little joys of life. His ‘nice guy’ demeanour helps him befriend Kavya Ranganathan (Shahana Goswami), a working woman whose Alzheimer’s-afflicted father (Shiv Subrahmanyam) he volunteers to take care of when the lady works extra hours on an off-day. The old man, obviously a former sportsman, cannot contain his excitement when he sees a football.

Anand’s growing proximity to Kavya’s dad does not go down too well with his mates, especially the lonesome Rashid Sheikh (Avinash Tiwary), whose single-room tenement is a total mess, pretty much like his life, which lurches from one fling to another until a new neighbour (Rasika Dugal) moves into the building with her two sons.

The others, too, have to contend with their own set of day-to-day problems. Dominic (Vishal Malhotra), a ukulele-strumming Goan Christian boy, does not see eye to eye with his brother Dennis (Suhas Ahuja), a fact that upsets his mother no end. Mehernosh (Nakul Bhalla), a Parsi accountant saddled with an obnoxiously overbearing boss. His vents his ire by sending abusive letters to the hectoring honcho. And Jayesh (Jay Upadhyay), a Gujarati stockbroker and father of two raucous children, is stuck with an extended family that never leaves him alone.

The back stories of these men, revealed in small doses, complete a picture that tells us a great deal about the sort of Mumbai lives that we have rarely seen on the big screen since the heydays of the middle-of-the-road cinema popularized by the likes of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and Sai Paranjpye

The plot of TMSH successfully breaks the cliche of Bollywood films, and has set a new track of a Family genre. Without any compilacated twist and turns, Milind has executed the story very cleverly, that even being a simple 'normal life' story line, it keeps us entertained. As the multiple stories unfold, football takes somewhat of a backseat and the film turns into a quick-footed exploration of the personal and professional dynamics that propel these moody men and the people in their lives towards their respective goalposts.

The script is breezy, there is hardly any dull moment in the film. The pace falters at a few places but then one is so cheerfully engrossed watching the beautifully etched out characters you let that pass by. Tu Hai Mera Sunday abounds in characters that we can relate to instantly. People living in Mumbai would easy connect with the film. And people living elsewhere would relate too as the urbanization is drowning all of us. If there are a few glitches along the way, they stem from the fact that the film is rather ‘overcrowded’ and a few of the characters inevitably get the short shrift. Apart from that there isn’t much else that the film lacks. It sets itself a modest target and achieves it without breaking a sweat.

There is no doubt that Milind Dhaimade makes a successful debut as a wrirer and director. In THMS Milind Dhaimade, has created a world, which you witness as well as become a part of it.  The best thing about his work is that he keeps it simple and relatable. His light touch makes THMS an easy watch. Milind Dhaimade, deserves all the praise for the connect and simplicity he evokes with this film. He amply proves his talent as a good story teller and one would be eagerly waiting to see more films from him in the future.

Cinematography by Harendra Singh is very good. Editing by Shyam Salgaonkar is above average. Music by Amartya Rahut is okay.

Performancewise all the artistes have done amazing work in Tu Hai Mera Sunday. Barun Sobti is very convincing in his act. Shahana Goswami is charming, effortless and natural as ever. Vishal Malhotra, Nakul Bhalla and Jay Upadhyay are credible in their roles. Avinash Tiwary is superb. Rasika Dugal makes her presence felt in her short role and so does Maanvi Gagroo in her role. Though Shiv Subramaniam's character does not have a single line in the film he conveys a lot through his expressions.

On the whole, TMSH is one of the few select films, when you feel that the film should have just gone on for some time. Go watch.