Aye Zindagi Movie Review
Aye Zindagi is based on a true story. Vinayak ‘Vinay’ Chawla (Satyajeet Dubey), a young computer engineer hailing from the middle class gets to know that he has liver cirrhosis. He travels from Lucknow to Hyderabad to meet Revathi Ranjan (Revathy), an organ donation counsellor who persuades families of brain dead patients to donate their organs. Talking to her kindles Vijay's hopes, but getting a liver that meets his particular parameters is difficult. Vinay, frustrated, begins to lose hope but life, as they say, finds a way. How things turn out right for him forms the crux of the film.
The film carries a powerful, affirmative message that really is the need of the hour. Organ donation is something Indians majorly shy away from. So many lives can be saved if the majority become organ donors. But sadly this message is conveyed in a haphazard manner. While the scenes showing Vinay going through different stages of the disease are gripping, the post interval scenes, where we see Vinay suffering from major survivor’s guilt as he was only able to get a liver because someone has died, sound very unrealistic. He wants to meet the organ donor’s family and offer his gratitude, as well as his condolences. All that’s fine. But he’s been depicted as a petulant child throwing tantrums over not getting his favourite brand of ice cream in such scenes. They needed to be written and shot with a certain gravitas, which is missing. As a result, you don’t feel their impact as much as you should.
Then, his romance with the night nurse, Manjula (Mrinamayee Godbole), too looks childish. After his discharge, they talk mostly on the phone and one fine day, he proposes out of the blue and she accepts. Manjula at least shows professional restraint while dealing with a patient while he was under her care. Vinay, on the other hand, again behaves like a tennager crushing madly on the first pretty girl he sees. He’s a qualified engineer working in a reputed firm but his emotional immaturity is jarring. His brother, played by Sawan Tank, is a study in contrast. He’s shown to be a doctor all set for higher studies but takes a break to take care of his younger sibling. The head honcho of the hospital (Hemant Kher) too is shown to have a calm head on his shoulders. Why was the central character so weakly constructed boggles the mind.
The film doesn’t get derailed because of the sincerity of the actors. Marathi actress Mrinmayee Godbole has been given a half-baked character sketch but doesn’t let that hinder her. She’s done full justice to her underwritten role. Hemant Kher has channelled his inner Biswajit in his performance as a compassionate doctor and Sawan Tak is the very soul of a caring elder brother. Satyajeet Dube is good in the scenes where he’s shown slowly losing both his health and mental peace. His depiction of a depressed patient is spot on. Your heart goes out seeing his complete commitment to the uneven material he was saddled with in the latter part of the film. Revathi is a powerhouse performer who has always made each role her own and does it here as well. She’s the very soul of a grief counsellor and makes you sit up and take notice of her impactful performance.
If a little more care was taken by the writer and director Anirban, Aye Zindagi would have turned out to be a far superior film then it currently is. It does carry a powerful message, which needs to be communicated to the masses. The film’s heart is in the right place and let’s hope the viewers forgive the gaffes and take to its teachings.
