Cast:
Mithun
Chakraborty,
Ayushmann
Khurrana,
Pallavi
Sharda,
Naman
Jain,
Jayant
Kriplani,
Natasha
Sinha
Director:
Vibhu
Virender
Puri
Do
you
ever
wonder
what
it
would
be
like
to
fly?
Then
see
Hawaizaada,
a
film
that
soars
into
the
skies
with
its
overweening
ambitions
and
miraculously
manages
to
stay
airborne
as
it
chronicles
the
life
a
man
who
wanted
to
fly.
Debutant
director
Vibhu
Puri's
very
accomplished
film,
a
tribute
to
the
scientist
who
apparently
manned
the
first
aircraft
that
civilizations
has
ever
flown,
is
a
stunning
feast
of
visual
splendour,
compounded
with
a
script
that's
tightly
and
judiciously
written
to
accentuate
the
audacity
and
eccentricity
of
people
who
can
float
in
the
future.
Straightaway
it
can
be
said
with
great
pride
that
Vibhu
Puri's
debut
is
a
homage
to
the
art
and
visual
aesthetics
of
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali.
Click
here
for
Hawaizaada
playlist
Every
frame
is
reminiscent
of
several
Bhansali
creations,
notably
Devdas
and
Saawariya,
the
former
for
the
theme
of
unfulfilled
love
(with
Khurana's
capricious
love
interest
Pallavi
Sharda
forming
a
fusion
of
Paro
and
Chandramukhi's
two-layered
character
from
Devdas)
and
the
latter
for
the
rich
bold
use
of
flamboyant
colors
to
highlight
the
heightened
opera-styled
emotions.
Hawaizaada
attempts
an
almost-impossible
marriage
of
a
visual
splendour
with
emotional
surrender.
The
characters,
be
it
the
whimsical
aimless
Shivkar
Talpade
or
his
kooky
mentor
Shastry,
or
the
Britishers
who
scowl
at
any
attempt
by
Shastry
and
Talpade
to
create
inventional
history....these
are
people
who
don't
believe
in
holding
back
emotions.
When
they
feel
show.
Period.
The
year
is
1895.
The
possibilities
of
recreating
that
era
in
present
times
seems
far-fetched
and
unlikely.
Thanks
to
Puri's
art
directors
(Subrata
Chakraborty,
Amit
Ray),
music
composers
(Vishal
Bhardwaj
pitches
in
with
a
zestful
lavni
filmed
on
the
gorgeous
Sharda)
and
most
specially
his
incredibly
gifted
camera-person
Savita
Singh
(who
happens
to
be
Puri's
wife),
the
director
has
constructed
a
world
as
unthinkable
on
paper
as
the
theory
of
flying
a
plane
must
have
seemed
to
Talpade's
contemporaries.
Thank
God
for
the
dreamers,
back
then
and
now.
Hawaizaada
is
a
film
with
tempestuous
ambitions.
Co-writers
Vibhu
Puri
and
Saurabh
R
Bhave
use
Talpade's
dream
of
flying
as
a
metaphor
for
anyone
from
any
era
who
has
dreamt
of
breaking
free.
The
pronounced
but
Amuted
metaphor
is
extended
into
Talpade's
extend
family
of
repressed
character,
again
very
Devdas-like
in
its
operatic
structure.
There
is
the
growling
father(Jayant
Kripalani),
tightlipped
mother
(Natasha
Sinha),
smirking
brother
(Mehul
Kajaria),
dominated
bhabhi
(Priyanka
Sethia)....They
all
long
to
,well,
fly
.
Encircling
this
wide
arc
of
wannabe
fliers
who
are
piloted
into
the
epic
plot
by
Talpade's
navigational
dreams,
couldn't
be
an
easy
task.
Vibhu
Puri
manages
the
seemingly
impossible
maneuvering
skilfully
joyously
and
playfully
through
lives
in
an
era
when
oppression
was
a
pre-condition.
Soaring
on
a
dream,
Hawaizaada
transports
us
into
an
enchanting
world
of
a
dream-reality
where
anything
can
happen.
Birds
can
sing,
humanbeing
can
fly....whatever!
Fuelling
the
impossible
dream
is
the
central
performance
by
Ayushmann
Khurrana.
He
breathes
animated
life
into
Shivkar
Bapuji
Talpade,
the
audacious
19th
century
scientist
who
dared
to
fly.
Khurrana
plays
Talpade
as
a
trippy
dreamer,
a
Devdas
drunk
on
his
dreams.
Mithun
Chakraborty
as
Talpade's
mentor
is
goofy
eccentric
and
endearing.
This
is
the
actor's
most
effective
performance
in
years.
As
for
Pallavi
Sharda,
though
admittedly
that
well-toned
gym-produced
physique
doesn't
jell
with
the
film's
periodicity,
she
is
a
revelation
doing
an
amalgamation
of
Paro
and
Chandramukhi
from
Devdas.
Besharam
is
forgotten
and
forgiven.
Going
back
in
time
is
never
an
easy
task
in
cinema.
Many
have
failed
to
court
periodicity
convincingly.
Hawaizaada
gets
away
with
its
flight
into
the
mind
of
the
man
who
dared
to
fly.
This
miniature
masterpiece
leaves
us
exhilarated
and
exultant.
Thank
God
for
the
dreamers,
past
and
present.
Thank
you,
Shivkar
Bapuji
Talpade.
Thank
you,
Vibhu
Puri.