Even after being a practising physician over three decades, I have hardly encountered a patient of Alzheimer who had crossed the bridge never to return. Though the clinical features were known to me, it was touching to watch it unfold on the screen. In a short span of three days, I happen to watch two movies on the same subject. From two totally different environments, cultures even continents and to certain extent contents too. But the core was the same. Trials and tribulations of, not the patient who suffers from the Alzheimer's but the near and dear ones who surround him or her. As far as the patient is concerned, he/she is on a different planet altogether by the time it is diagnosed.
The slow decline of the memory, due to permanent decay of the nerve cells, initially for the recent past and then in its entirety, is the usual course of the disease. Thus it becomes difficult to pick it up in the initial stages. It though, maybe useless, because there is no definitive treatment as off now and the disease progresses relentlessly, ultimately making the person vegetable! Just existence but no awareness. What the affected one goes through, during this phase, though easy to guess but is extremely difficult to comprehend. Lapses of memory alternating with phases of awareness may be looked at. by the relatives as the crankiness of the old age. To take care of such a person who has lost his 'Self' but not 'mad' in the conventional sense is a mammoth task for the near relatives taking the physical and mental toll, taxing every facade of life and straining the interpersonal relationships almost to the point of snapping!
The slow decline of the memory, due to permanent decay of the nerve cells, initially for the recent past and then in its entirety, is the usual course of the disease. Thus it becomes difficult to pick it up in the initial stages. It though, maybe useless, because there is no definitive treatment as off now and the disease progresses relentlessly, ultimately making the person vegetable! Just existence but no awareness. What the affected one goes through, during this phase, though easy to guess but is extremely difficult to comprehend. Lapses of memory alternating with phases of awareness may be looked at. by the relatives as the crankiness of the old age. To take care of such a person who has lost his 'Self' but not 'mad' in the conventional sense is a mammoth task for the near relatives taking the physical and mental toll, taxing every facade of life and straining the interpersonal relationships almost to the point of snapping!
First one 'The Notebook.' a Hollywood classic from last decade and the second one, of course, our own 'Astu' in Marathi. Both the movies show the downhill course of the patient and the dear ones so graphically that if it does not touch the strings of your heart, maybe you were born, without one!
The Notebook is a story of Noah and Allie, childhood friends from South Carolina who fall in love but the world war II separates them. Noah declared practically dead, returns alive after seven years to find Allie in different arms, of Lon whom Allie had met in the hospital for wounded soldiers where she was offering her services as a nurse. Materialistic mother of Allie hides the fact from Allie, that Noah is still alive and is waiting for her. Devastated but still having lingering hope of reunion with Allie in mind, Noah buys the home of her dreams, resurrects it to the last detail, the way she had wanted it to be and waits patiently for Allie. After a lot of emotional upheavals, Allie returns. But the crux is not her return.
The story told in flashbacks reveals many tender spots in the journey. Noah has now become old and staying in a hospital, rather home for aged and keeps on reading a story for an inmate, who has lost her memory. Engrossed in his tale she keeps on regaining her lost horizons but only for moments. Once when she regains the lost past, asks Noah ' Are you telling our story? I know that's me, Allie, and you are Noah, the only thing that I dread now is how much time do I have to lose it completely.?' And Noah breaks down.
The vacant expression on her face, his efforts to rejoin the broken links from the past, her remembering their children for a moment, but the children finding her distant and unrelated, everything unfolds in front of you, seldom leaving your eyes dry! Contrary to usual Indian perception about the west, Noah not only loves her deeply till his last but stands true to the last grain of his being, when she was losing hers, in spite of being asked by the kids to leave her and be with them for a smoother old age!
'Astu' is not far from 'The Notebook' in the essence, only here the ties are between a father and a daughter who steadfastly refuses to keep him in a home for the similarly affected. This her being Indian, maybe, refrains her from doing so, perhaps her western counterpart might have done it much earlier. Her attachment to him, the guilt of losing him, feeling of helplessness after losing the battles on every front, resignation to the situation, her ire towards her sister for conveniently abstaining herself from the parental duty, every aspect of Ira's, daughter's persona is built up gradually so affectionately that you feel helpless with her, you cry with her, you feel dejected with her and in the end, after finding the father you get elated with her! Her husband though understanding and with her in this ordeal, is aloof at one level as if it is not his battle. Her sister rational to the point of being cruel too keeps herself away from the actual emotional battlefield, pushing every responsibility of the father on her elder sister's able shoulders but slipping quietly away when the point of skirmish is reached! Though not overtly selfish but calculating due to her education, she too melts after realizing the sacrifices made by the elder one.
There is no point in elaborating the story in details here because that's not the purpose. Critical appraisal too is not the intention. Just how the story is told and while taking different turns how it brings forward the umpteen covert layers of the characters within, when they are thrown in that unforeseen situation, is a treat for the intellect! And I enjoyed "Astu' at that level fully.
Iravati Harshe, so far known as a good looking model, gives such a nuanced performance that it was hardly surprising that she got the highest award for it. It would have been a big let down if she wouldn't have got it! Her face becomes so transparent at times that one can easily feel her inner vulnerability and turmoil just by the looks in her eyes. Her ire by the quiver in her voice projects so effectively that you are instantly by her side! I can not think of 'Astu' without her. It was a Himalayan role and she has come out with more than flying colours.
Amruta Subhash too has given, well studied and meticulously crafted out, performance, though the entire character for me seemed unnecessary because the fight was Ira's and not Dr Shastri's. She scores because her character is etched that sharply and for an actress of her calibre it was really a far simpler task than it was for Irawati, which had too many different and complicated shades!
For the ones who haven't had the basics of Sanskrit, at places it goes well over the head. I could not but think any other profession for Dr Shastri. Dr Gupte's character was a patchwork and her justification, well, too contrived!
Pune in Marathi cinemas nowadays looks so glamorous that I wonder many a time whether it's the same town which I resided in, forty years ago and was an idle overgrown village without glitz and glamour whatsoever!
'Astu' works at the cerebral level and so those who lack it, [ they are in plenty and it was reflected in the attendance,] might not enjoy it. For me? It was treat for all my senses!
'Astu' is not far from 'The Notebook' in the essence, only here the ties are between a father and a daughter who steadfastly refuses to keep him in a home for the similarly affected. This her being Indian, maybe, refrains her from doing so, perhaps her western counterpart might have done it much earlier. Her attachment to him, the guilt of losing him, feeling of helplessness after losing the battles on every front, resignation to the situation, her ire towards her sister for conveniently abstaining herself from the parental duty, every aspect of Ira's, daughter's persona is built up gradually so affectionately that you feel helpless with her, you cry with her, you feel dejected with her and in the end, after finding the father you get elated with her! Her husband though understanding and with her in this ordeal, is aloof at one level as if it is not his battle. Her sister rational to the point of being cruel too keeps herself away from the actual emotional battlefield, pushing every responsibility of the father on her elder sister's able shoulders but slipping quietly away when the point of skirmish is reached! Though not overtly selfish but calculating due to her education, she too melts after realizing the sacrifices made by the elder one.
There is no point in elaborating the story in details here because that's not the purpose. Critical appraisal too is not the intention. Just how the story is told and while taking different turns how it brings forward the umpteen covert layers of the characters within, when they are thrown in that unforeseen situation, is a treat for the intellect! And I enjoyed "Astu' at that level fully.
Iravati Harshe, so far known as a good looking model, gives such a nuanced performance that it was hardly surprising that she got the highest award for it. It would have been a big let down if she wouldn't have got it! Her face becomes so transparent at times that one can easily feel her inner vulnerability and turmoil just by the looks in her eyes. Her ire by the quiver in her voice projects so effectively that you are instantly by her side! I can not think of 'Astu' without her. It was a Himalayan role and she has come out with more than flying colours.
Amruta Subhash too has given, well studied and meticulously crafted out, performance, though the entire character for me seemed unnecessary because the fight was Ira's and not Dr Shastri's. She scores because her character is etched that sharply and for an actress of her calibre it was really a far simpler task than it was for Irawati, which had too many different and complicated shades!
For the ones who haven't had the basics of Sanskrit, at places it goes well over the head. I could not but think any other profession for Dr Shastri. Dr Gupte's character was a patchwork and her justification, well, too contrived!
Pune in Marathi cinemas nowadays looks so glamorous that I wonder many a time whether it's the same town which I resided in, forty years ago and was an idle overgrown village without glitz and glamour whatsoever!
'Astu' works at the cerebral level and so those who lack it, [ they are in plenty and it was reflected in the attendance,] might not enjoy it. For me? It was treat for all my senses!
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