It’s telling that director Rituparno Ghosh uses 'author’ instead of scriptwriter in the credits for his first Hindi film, for the film would probably have been more enjoyable as a book that an author crafts with care and patience for a reader to linger over. Instead, Ghosh’s effort to make a movie for the masses that at the same time is not quite Bollywood fare, results in a film that lacks well-defined characters and a story without any real depth.
Ajay Devgan plays Manoj who was jilted by his childhood sweetheart Aishwaya Rai (Niru). Despite the years that have passed since her marriage to a well-to-do suitor in the city, Manoj still pines for Niru. Financial difficulties bring Manoj to Calcutta to raise money from long lost college buddies, but Manoj is more focused on obtaining directions to Niru’s house. Drenched and forlorn in a raincoat borrowed from his hosts, Manoj turns up at Niru’s doorstep where the two spend the afternoon filling in the years since they last met, each trying to convince the other that they are happy and successful. Predictably, each learns of the other’s troubles and finds a way to help the other out—financially, that is.
While there may be a market for minimalist moviemaking, one hopes that the technique inspires the viewer’s imagination through dialogue, acting and the events depicted. Raincoat does none of the above. Facts are presented (boy pines for girl who dumped him for rich groom) with jerky flashbacks providing a timeline, but one wonders at the beginning and end who these people really are. We’re invited to share an intimate afternoon with the two but don’t know much more about them after several hours of conversation. Both appear to be shallow, self-centered and immature—not quite the stuff of great romance. It doesn’t help that there is no chemistry on screen between Rai and Devgan, not in the flashback scenes nor in the present, so the angst that is presented (more in Manoj’s character than Niru's) seems all the more contrived. There is no mystery or subtext—the audience knows something is off as soon as Manoj enters Niru’s house but Ghosh feels a need to draw out the suspense for most of the movie and then employs a third party, Annu Kapoor, who stops by to tell Manoj the real truth about his Niru. But, honestly, if Manoj hadn’t figured it out by then, well, it’s probably no surprise he was in financial straits to begin with!
Both Devgan and Rai have performed well, effectively playing the loser-wimp and the bored but crafty housewife, respectively. Neither evokes sympathy, unable to convey the pathos that Ghosh may have been aiming for in the film.
Had Raincoat been a book authored by Rituparno Ghosh, or a real author, we may have had chapters instead of an outline of a story; a book that might have engrossed the reader for hours with its complex characters and monumental events dictating choices that irrevocably changed their lives. As it is, Raincoat simply provides a place to stop for a few minutes until the rain eases up a bit.
Raincoat
Director: Rituparno Ghosh
Starring: Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai, Annu Kapoor