Raat Gayi is interesting

Man is perhaps growing tired of one of the oldest institutions he has inherited: Marriage. Urban life has drastically revisited its moral premise and is perhaps undergoing an adjustment phase. It is going through a zone of chaos. Society does not visit its institutions in parts. The resultant tumult is based on the effect of the revisit and not so much the spot of such re examination.
The knowledge wave and the power shift towards real economics has perhaps in a paradoxical fashion echoed the Marxian belief of economics being at the root of it all and since the super structure has changed drastically ( based on some perceptions of economics) the roots too should have. The aerial vision however clearly indicates the same.
Seen in the context of our cinema , this and more is reflected in Saurav Shukla’s Raat Gayi Baat Gayi. Even seen from a non societal perspective and from the limited vision of cinema as an entertainment function the film is a clear indication of the maturing of our cinema. Obviously our film makers are now willing to walk on roads less travelled , even not cash entrapping and addressing a specific audience.
The script skilfully designed reflects the simmering tribulations in nouveau world of the haves, the fashionables and the intellectuals. There is somewhere there a a disturbing zone . Issues varying from under achievement, satiate quotient, infidelity, suspect morality, lack of personal accountability- all these and more are manifested in the crowded emotions of three couples whose lives seem well ensconced till the simmering emotions begin to play tantrums with the quiet surface of life.
Rahul (Rajat Kapoor) has every thing going his way till he attends this party one night and runs into a compulsive teaser Sophia (Neha Dupia) and looses his balance. His wife Mitali (Iravate) is a sculptor who has a fine family but has a discernable aching for the company of a young man of her profession; Amit (Vinay Pathak) is happily married to Nandini (Anuradha Menon) but is addicted to porn sites and thus a marriage at stake; Saxena (Dalip Tahil) is a writer who has a solution to every challenge in the lives of others but can do little of his naïve (?) wife Jolly (Navneet Nishan). All meet at this party reminiscent of the Benegal film The Party and life is mirrored in its delicate nuances. In built frustrations and abnegated desires raise their voices and create a furore in the seeming peace.
All this is treated without much ado and with a tongue in cheek manner. None of the characters over reach and function within the realistic realms of their being. This makes the narrative very authentic and the viewer is forced to take it seriously. There is then the Saurav Shukla humour ( wry) which helps you chuckle instead of laugh. It is not often that our film makers make you have a smile on your face, Invariably you are laughing at rather than laughing for. This is a welcome change.
All the actors put in their best and deliver the kind of performances that in another context would have been viewed as “bits and pieces” performers. Thy collectively and individually deliver and that is what matters in a team game called cinema.
Raat Gayi Baat Gayi is at one level about a case of mild amnesia- real and more importantly moral and emotional. Nice movie. Asks questions. Worth watching, it may set us thinking!!


L.Ravichander