What an innings of joy!

Not Out, the film of the same name is a light take on life, hope and perseverance.

Dattatray Vakharia (Amitabh Bachchan) is 102; his son Babulal (Rishi Kapoor) is 75. They have little in common. Where the father is still excited about life, the son is trapped in his past.

One day, the dad announces that he’s sending the son to a home for the aged. When the son protests, the father agrees to reconsider, if Babulal can fulfil a set of conditions in six months. 102… begins with a few hiccups. There is too much narration, and more dialogue than action. But then the veterans start to shine. You will look back at your own childhood and sob as Kapoor quietly unpacks his. While Bachchan keeps the plot moving, Kapoor is the glue that holds the film together. You feel for his grumpy old man. His silences and anguish make sense. He is the one you root for.

The screenplay is a bit jagged, jumping from one plot point to another without really going anywhere. Jimit Trivedi’s Dhiru does little to help. His ‘comic relief’ often feels disruptive. The simplicity of the settings — a house, a street, the patter of rain and the ringing of a horse cart bell — work brilliantly, though. This is a film that knows what it wants you to feel, and manages to get there, most of the time. A few more characters would have helped. But that would have meant less of Bachchan and Kapoor. And what a joy it is, to watch two veteran actors take the stage in a film that lets them shine.