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LONDON REVIEW: The Last Lear

The film was premiered at the London Film Festival on Dussehra

By Paula Ray . London Oct 25, 2007

A lot has already been said about Rituparno Ghosh's film The Last Lear and Amitabh Bachchan's performance in it. Yet a lot more needs to be told to put all the speculations to rest, after having watched the film at a special screening at the London Film Festival. What could have been a more auspicious day to premiere than Dussehra?

Yes, this film is Big B's best till date, but it's also Rituparno's best directorial venture ever. Not only that, all the supporting actors have outshone themselves in their feats – be it Preity Zinta as Shabnam, an upcoming actor; Arjun Rampal as Siddharth, the director of the film within the film; Shefali Shetty as Vandana, Bachchan's partner; Jishu Sengupta as Gautam, a film journalist with 'contacts'; or Divya Dutta in the nurse’s role. Rituparno seems to have extracted the career best from one and all; an act that Satyajit Ray had mastered so well.

The Last Lear is an onscreen adaptation of Utpal Dutt's famous play Aajker Shahjahan, delivered in Indian English. The film revolves around an ageing and decadent Shakespearean actor, Harish (Harry) Mishra, who had had a stage-fright just days before he was supposed to play his dream role – that of King Lear. He left the stage thereafter, but Siddharth talked him out of it to play his first ever role in a film named The Mask. At the climax, Harry ends up giving his best shot even as he rolls down the cliff and breaks his spinal cord. No, he doesn't die after the fall; the film does end on a positive note.

This genre of Indian English films are quite new to us and Big B has a good command over the language, which seems to have again been put to the best possible use. He speaks the Queen's language in Shakespearean British accent, but shows his Bengali roots when he gets drunk by speaking it in typical Bengali accent.

In another scene, Harry gives Shabnam tips on acting and also teaches her to throw her voice at the mountains just to add some emotion to her lines and also help open up. It's a truly amazing composition. So natural that your skin crawls!

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