Aachar & Co

I was born in 1994. So in no way or form, can I relate to anything that happened in the 60s but I know of people, part of my generation, a minority that loves the past. I’m one of them. We love typewriters. We love lamps, old wooden tables, and chairs. We love the scent of Malgudi and the feel of red oxide floors beneath your feet. We love the aesthetics of the time gone by. And that’s why Aachar & Co. strikes a chord and remains with me. Every frame is etched in my mind - beautifully lit, every element thought through to make it look so perfect, and in no time, you’re there with the Aachars in the 60s. My generation and I have heard of the family dynamics of our parents. Now, you finally get to witness it, and what a joy it is. You feel all the emotions run through you as the story progresses. Even within a light and breezy tone, there is a hint of melancholy - from eating snacks to earning bread for the family - it’s all pure heart. I don’t want this to sound like a review but sometime back when Sakutumba Sametha had released, I wrote about something called the Re-watchability Index. And yet another movie falls well into that bracket. There are a couple of scenes I want to talk about. There’s a song, I don’t remember the song but I can’t wait for it to get released. It’s the song that comes when the protagonist comes to give lunch to her sister working in the bank and also delivers pickles to all the employees. I almost teared up and I don’t know why. There was too much packed in that scene that hit me. a) She hasn’t studied as much as her younger sisters. b) She’s not getting married any time soon which was her dream for the longest time, even though it changes through the course of the movie. c) Her acceptance of all this, being the mature one, growing up beyond all of this - I felt all of that at that moment - and in no way, was I sympathizing with the character but just feeling it all, everything, everywhere, all at once. Another scene is a scene that again involves the bank. There is no pattern here but yeah - it’s the complete stretch of the film post Leela’s disappearance at her wedding. The shots that follow - from Suma and the groom searching for Leela, Leela working in the bank with the bride’s attire, the placement of the tea break sign, the conversation between the two characters standing amid many cupboards, the dialogues, the slow zoom out to reveal an eavesdropping Suma, the shift in their dynamics and the acceptance that follows, the melancholy in their differences slowly drifting to being the joy of acceptance, all of them running to reach the venue, standing outside the bank, the manager coming into the picture, the drive to the venue, and the big idea drop - till we reach the venue and we focus on the beautifully written Suma played by the writer-director Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy - that was it - the closest any Kannada movie has ever gotten to reminding us of Wes Anderson while sitting in a theatre. I’m not talking about the symmetry or the look of it - it was the tone and feel of the scene and the progressions - the hidden pains expressed leading to experience joy, a realization that it isn’t all grim in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. There are always faint glimmers. The realization that one doesn’t have to leave your job for marriage (in the 60s), doesn’t have to shift to Kammanahalli, can start one’s own business and fulfill her dream without having to resort to marriage and be the queen of her story (as it comes in the Pickle song). I just love that photo of her in London as she becomes a successful businesswoman and finally visits the land of the queen, as it was back then and until recently. Finally, I got a jar of Aachar & Co. pickles. I didn’t earn it but I sure felt like I did when I shook hands with the actor who played an Aachar. I wish I was there in the sets so I could steal a lot more of the elements that caught my eye in every frame of the film. Don’t miss it in theatres. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for films but I wish there are more screens available for this movie especially on MG Road, Indiranagar, and Whitefield side of Bangalore. Nonetheless catch a metro maybe because it’s worth it.