Ankhon Dekhi

<p>Rajesh Bauji ( ) is a man in his late 50s, living a dreary but eventful life in a small house in with his extended family. The movie starts with Bauji narrating a dream where he sees himself flying like a bird, free from all the worldly affairs. A random incident is going to change his life in a dramatic way, though he does not realise it at the moment. Bauji’s daughter has been seeing a boy who is allegedly ill-reputed in their town. When that is revealed to the family, after some deliberation, they decide to lock up the girl and go beat the wilful boy. When they confront the boy, to Babuji he seems like a very nice person. This event radically changes his life — he decides that he will believe only what he can see, hence the title . After a while he refuses to worship god and treats prasad (offerings) as just another sweet. He is working as a travel agent and refuses to book tickets to Amsterdam as he has never seen Amsterdam. To uphold his ideals, he quits his job. He resorts to a very idealistic mode and takes things to extreme levels to explore his theory. At first his neighbours consider him a lunatic, but over time they start admiring his logical reasoning and start following him. Once while intervening in a petty loan issue with a loan shark, he refuses to believe the bad reputation of the shark. He concludes that he is a good person, based on his observation. He forms a rapport with the loan shark and is recruited by him in his illegal gambling den. His followers join. He agrees to get his daughter married to the boy she loves, and almost sorts out the emotional issues with his estranged brother. Now free from all responsibility, he leads a life where there are almost no blind spots and a lot of clarity. He takes his wife for a vacation. While chatting he narrates to his wife that he feels very light, like a bird flying in free skies. His wife jokes about his experience, inadvertently challenging his own theory that he doesn’t know how a bird actually flies. In the middle of the night he walks towards a cliff. Bauji narrates the dream that the movie starts with. He has yet to experience flying. As the film ends, Bauji is seen flying down a cliff. opened to critical appreciation. Most critics praised all the performances and the deeply rich philosophical undertones of the script. of gave the film 3.5/5 stars stating, “Through the wonderfully whimsical , writer-director Rajat Kapoor shows us how the journey could be more meaningful if we lived life the way we choose to.” of gave 3.5/5 and mentioned, “the strands come together with such a heave of emotion that I found myself wiping away tears. Ankhon Dekhi is a lovely respite from the formulaic fare that clutters our multiplexes week after week.” Independent film scholar praised the acting and casting stating “Watching Rajat Kapoor’s marvellous Ankhon Dekhi, you may find yourself wishing that we had one of those “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” awards. The casting is perfect, the performances exquisite. It’s a cliché to say that an actor has “lived” his role – but that sense of not-acting-but- is all-pervasive here.” Sukanya Varma of went with 4/5 stars, saying “For all its existentialism crisis, s heart lies in Kapoor’s affectionate depiction of humdrum living, the tender father-daughter relationship between Bauji and Rita (Maya Sarao), the unspoken attachment between him and his younger brother and the concerned anxiety of his rock solid wife.” Shubra Gupta of , usually a very harsh critic, gave the film a surprising 4/5, mentioning about the central character, “He is fool, clown and man, all in one. He is us. I have seen it with my own eyes, and I can tell you that is a fine, fine film.” One of the few differing voices was Madhureetha Mukherjee of who gave 2.5/5 stars stating “What doesn’t work for the film is the fact that it borders on abstract at regular intervals and lacks continuity, making a few scenes and conversations seem out-of-context.” However, she still recommended that people watch it. features an unusual soundtrack combining Indian classical melodies with modern rhythms. The score was composed by Saagar Desai, and the lyrics were written by Varun Grover. The soundtrack was well received with many calling it a ‘breath of fresh air’ due to the melodies being composed with classical instruments.</p>