Sir Movie Review: Indian love stories have become so scarce and I am talking about the deeply passionate and aspirational romances that made our hearts flutter in the '90s and early 2000's. Today everyone is busy making either thrillers or comedies. Even if romance gets a chance, it's jammed with unfunny jokes. Thus, when I watched the trailer of Sir, it felt the long-forgotten warm and fuzzy sensation. It does make your heart flutter but just for a few minutes and that's unfair! Tillotama Shome on Her Award-Winning Movie Sir: ‘This Film Changed Something in Me’

Ratna (Tillotama Shome) works as a maid-servant to Ashwin (Vivek Gomber), while also staying in his house. A typical day in that household involves Ratna taking care of all his needs while he tries to cope with wounds left behind by a broken marriage. Their conversations are less but are always respectful and friendly. Ratna also has a dream of starting her own tailoring business and Ashwin supports her in it. They strike up an unusual bond that goes beyond the equation of a master and his servant. But can two people so far apart in the social spectrum have a life together? That's what Sir tries to solve.

Like I mentioned before, Sir makes your heart flutter just right. The little scenes where the two are conversing and trying to provide each other emotional support are quite alluring. The usual sub-plots like guests humiliating a servant after she spills something on their dress and people trying to make Ashwin understand why such a romance is forbidden have been meticulously woven in the story. If that's not all, Ratna's confession of being free in Mumbai really strikes a chord with everyone who left their homes to become independent. Of course, Ratna's past is far more tragic than most of the people who migrate to cities to do white-collar jobs.

Written and directed by Rohena Gera, Sir does have those sweet 'will they'- 'won't they' moments which makes it a wonderful watch, although they are too far and few. To make the difference between their social status more prominent than it already is, Gera also includes scenes where a driver is suggesting Ratna to leave the work because 'Log kya kahenge'. Ratna's reply to that is every woman who was ever asked to live with a male roommate. None of the moments where the characters are discussing their life with each other seems forced which is the biggest win here.

Watch The Trailer Of Sir Here...

But what mires the whole experience is a very indulgent narrative. The love story reaches its peak half an hour before its ending and that doesn't justify an hour-long build-up at all. The runtime itself is of 1 hour and 36 minutes. Since it isn't populated with many romantic moments, the meandering screenplay becomes a tedious exercise to watch. Nobody is interested to know how many times Ratna makes meals for Ashwin in a day or khana kaisa bana hai?

All thanks to that the film fails to have any emotional graph as there are no major high or lows. The only time, it reaches a crescendo is when they finally show their feelings for each other. Also, Ashwin's character doesn't have an emotional arc. You can at least understand Ratna's strange jealousy when she sees a woman get out of Ashwin's bedroom. The latter doesn't show any such heightened change in emotions and when he does, he goes off the screens. Romance is a personal feeling and I believe when you have to show it in a movie, the gestures have to be slightly grander to serenade the audience or it gets lost in translation.

When it comes to performances, Tillotama Shome owns it. From the twinkling eyes of hope of making it on her own in a big city in Mumbai to breaking down to see her dreams getting crushed, Shome excels in every scene. She is a treat to watch. Vivek Gomber plays the role of a foreign-returned progressive man to the hilt but his character needed more impetus. He should have been provided more moments to shine. The rest of the cast does a swell job in ably supporting the main leads.

Yay!

-Tillotama Shome

-Romance

-Sweet moments

Nay!

-Meandering screenplay

-Abrupt end

-Less number of romantic moments

Final Thoughts

Sir could have been that one film we all have been waiting for in terms of getting washed over by romance. It does and then it doesn't as the director gets too indulgent with the narrative.

Rating:3.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 13, 2020 02:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).