Welcome back, Irrfan Khan
ANGREZI MEDIUM
Director: Homi Adajania Cast: Irrfan Khan, Radhika Madan, Deepak Dobriyal
Angrezi Medium, the sequel to Saket Chaudhary’s lovely Hindi Medium, is fairly disappointing. But perhaps that first film set the bar so high that this was inevitable. It’s certainly a treat to see Irrfan Khan back on the big screen, after a gap of almost two years while he battled a brain tumour. He, as usual, makes the most of every moment on screen. Unfortunately, the storyline and screenplay end up feeling very contrived. What worked so well in the trailer — the promise of a sweet, emotional story about a father-daughter bond — turns out to be a hotchpotch of convoluted subplots, characters screaming for attention and a needlessly melodramatic climax.
Director Homi Adajania is at his best when establishing the emotional bond between father and daughter. These scenes are genuinely endearing. But when it comes to plot, Adajania really loses his way.
Set in Udaipur, Angrezi Medium follows a sweet-shop owner named Champak Bansal (Irrfan) as he raises his daughter, Tarika (Radhika Madan), alone. All is going well; Tarika is now on the cusp of adulthood — and is even about to achieve a longheld dream of studying abroad — when Champak unwittingly jeopardises her only chance of getting a scholarship to London.
His struggle to get her into the university of her choice makes up the rest of the film. As the story unfolds, they both discover things that change their relationship.
Irrfan remains pitch-perfect in every frame; Angrezi Medium makes you realise just how much you’ve missed this marvellous actor. Radhika, in the role of innocent rebel, has a few weak moments. But watch out for Deepak Dobriyal. As Champak’s business rival and brother, Ghasiteram, he is hilarious. His is a performance so fine, you soon start to crack up each time he appears onscreen, even before he’s said or done anything.
Where Angrezi Medium fails is in burdening itself with a needlessly large ensemble cast. There’s a childhood friend (Kiku Sharda), a shady NRI in London (Ranveer Shorey), a cop in London who seems angry all the time (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and her single mother (Dimple Kapadia; refreshing). Amid all this, there’s Pankaj Tripathi, for all of five minutes, completely wasted in the film.
There’s a deportation; fake passports; a charade where father and daughter pose as Pakistani citizens. It all goes really haywire, but admittedly, remains fun. As you walk out, you’ll realise that it’s Irrfan and Deepak that made it so.