Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi: An offbeat emotional slice of life treat.

Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi Movie Review

Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi 📽

Director: Seema Pahwa

Writer: Seema Pahwa

Starring: Supriya Pathak, Naseeruddin Shah, Parambrata Chatterjee, Konkana Sen Sharma, Vikrant Massey, Manoj Pahwa, Vinay Pathak, Ninad Kamat. 

Now streaming on Netflix 

One line movie summary 

An offbeat, emotional drama that revolves around  Ram Prasad's death and a complicated dysfunctional family dynamic that unravels many hidden truths. 

About: Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi

With a stellar ensemble star cast including top-notch theatre actors, writer, and director Seema Pahwa has done a tremendous job in her directorial debut. The movie showcases the story of a family which reunites after their Bauji's death. Glimpses of kitchen politics, interpersonal relationships between different family members, and complex family dynamics can be seen.    

Plot

The movie begins with Ram Prasad's death, the Bauji of the family. The entire family gathers under one roof to perform the final rites of the head of the family. For the next thirteen days, they are stuck with each other and in this journey, the family faces its issues, insecurities, greed, hopelessness, and much more. The mother played by the immensely talented Supriya Pathak gets to see a different side of her kids, grandkids, her daughters-in-law, and the rest of her extended family. The story mainly focuses on the multi-generational family and how one's expectations become a burden for themselves.   

Discussion 

This movie shares a resemblance to Pagglait because of a similar backdrop with an average middle-class family residing in a small town grieving the death of their loved one. Although the basic fabric of both the movies is the same, the message conveyed is completely different. The movie has a stellar star cast including Naseeruddin Shah as Bauji, who, with his small cameo manages to impress us with his amazing performance, the immensely talented Supriya Pathak as the mother is phenomenal. With very little dialogue, she manages to convey her grief with loads of expressions. Actors like Vinay Pathak, Vikrant Massey, Konkana Sen Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Parambrata Chatterjee, Ninad Kamat, Deepika Amin, Brijendra Kala, and all other supporting star cast are a treat to watch. The actors have done a tremendous job with whatever screen space they had. They have breathed life into these roles. 

The family dynamic is relatable as the daughters-in-law gossip about their mother-in-law even in such grieving times. They bitch about the youngest daughter-in-law. There are moments that make us chuckle but sometimes the jokes fall flat.The nanands, chachas, fufas, damads, mamaji and every character will remind you of your own family. Everyone showcases a facade that they care but in reality, everyone is a selfish person but the mask has to come off someday. 

Anupama Chopra in her review wrote "There are no villains here. Just the understanding that humans are flawed, relationships are fragile, and yet, we must strive, as best as we can, to be happy." And I cannot agree with her more. 

A special shout out to Seema Pahwa who is one such person whose career in the second half has taken off and how! Her writing is brilliant and on point. Kudos to her for bringing life into this film with her writing and direction who has made her way into a male-dominated industry. I have personally become a huge fan of her.  

Ram Prasad ki Tehrvi is not a typical Bollywood fantasy film but is close to reality. The idea of the film is simple and subtle. Such films are not everyone's cup of tea because of their slow pace. The film takes time to develop and reveal its characters. But it is highly recommended indeed!

Naseeruddin Shah narrates a few lines in the climax which aptly captures the essence of this story. 

Saat suro jaisi hai ye zindagi, bas apne sur ki pehchan hona jaruri hai. Jis din sahi sur samajh jaogye, zindagi asan ho jayegi. Zindagi tumari hai to sur bhi tumara hona chahiye