Udaan is the story of a school student who isn’t so happy going to his family during his vacation. This sensitive topic and its characters are handled with understanding and maturity. Director Vikramaditya Motwane’s film is not preachy as it may seem from its promos. A straightforward tale of a young boy and his relationship with his rigid father and helpless younger step brother told in the most simplistic way. Udaan movie review…
Rajat Barmecha plays the role of an adolescent who has stepped into his teens and how he faces a tyrant father, a step brother he never knew existed and how he eventually breaks the shackles and frees himself from a world that’s slowly suffocating him.
After being abandoned for eight straight years in boarding school, Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) returns to the small industrial town of Jamshedpur and finds himself closeted with an authoritarian father (Ronit Roy) and a younger half brother (Aayan Boradia) who he didn’t even know existed.
Forced to work in his father’s steel factory and study engineering against his wishes, he tries to forge his own life out of his given circumstances and pursue his dream of being a writer.
Much against his desire of being a writer, Rohan’s life becomes more claustrophobic under the roof of his over disciplinarian, dominating dad, and the only breather he finds is in his uncle (Ram Kapoor) and a college senior Apu (Anand Tiwari).
His father, a single dad, isn’t an outright villain as his nature is balanced with sporadic humane shades, though he is rigid and incorrigible most of the times.
There are some remarkable sequences in Udaan that leave a stunning impact like the first meeting between Rajat Barmecha and his step brother. Another being the confrontation at the dinner table, when Ronit Roy and Rajat Barmecha when the talk veers to Rajat’s plans for the future.
The director does make imposing and efficient use of metaphors to emphasize the conflicts between the Rohan and his daddy. Especially, the son’s customary morning walks with his father ends with a running race which the junior keeps losing through the film Udaan.
Jamshedpur, an industrial city, is beautifully captured in its different moods by the Cinematographer Mahendra Shetty.
Vikramaditya Motwane and his co-writer Anurag Kashyap craftily sketch the four main characters which are so identifiable. They ought to be credited with fine handling of several delicate moments and sensitive relationships so plainly and logically.
Rajat Barmecha isn’t just a cute, handsome teenage boy. He is confident and a talented actor. Ronit Roy is superb and Ram Kapoor underplays his part with rare understanding. Aayan Boradia is simply adorable cute kid with his innocent smile, expressive eyes and tender emotions that are heart touching.
Udaan is so realistic that the one begins to feel it as a first-hand account of what the troubled teen has to undergo. It inspires one who is in whichever phase of life, to break away from all bindings of life and fly freely.
A well crafted film. This is the REAL Indian Cinema.
Cast of Udaan:
Rajat Barmecha as Rohan
Ronit Roy as Bhairav
Aayan Boradia as Arjun
Ram Kapoor as Jimmy
Manjot Singh as Muninder
Anand Tiwari as Apu
Sumant Mastkar as Kashyap
Raja Hudda as Vikram
Varun Khettry as Benoy
Shaunak Sengupta as Amber
Akshay Sachdev as Shiv
Credits & Crew of Udaan:
Studio – UTV Motion Pictures
Produced by – Sanjay Singh, Anurag Kashyap, Ronnie Screwvala
Co-producers – Aarti Bajaj, Zarina Mehta, Deven Khote, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Associate Producer – Vikas Bahl
Executive Producer – Dipa De Motwane
Screenplay – Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane
Directed by – Vikramaditya Motwane
Cinematography – Mahendra J. Shetty
Production designer – Aditya Kanwar
Music – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya
Editor – Dipika Kalra
Sound – Kunal Sharma
Costumes – Gopika Malkan
Casting – Jogi
Udaan, movie review