![a taxi driver korean film analysis korean critic a taxi driver korean film analysis korean critic](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/default.jpg)
His story is no different from Sita’s or the Uttar Dakhshin Sangha’s local leader Rajendra (Abhishek Banerjee): they just want to fit in and blend with the crowd. There seems to be a simmering tension between them, but Juvekar does a brilliant job in both feigning respect for his ‘kaka’ and then giving in to his demons.
![a taxi driver korean film analysis korean critic a taxi driver korean film analysis korean critic](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hqgVFA7RYE4/TJqRGs57IBI/AAAAAAAAD4k/EIa9obwFqD0/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Sam+Rainsy+on+VOA.jpg)
Santosh Juvekar’s Vilas stands on the opposite end of the spectrum – loud, relentless and quick to lose his temper. But, he lets his body do all the talking – the deathly glares intimidate Vilas as he stands at his door asking to participate in the war against ‘them’, even the trembling of his aged lips and the occasional eye twitch spells a cast on his fellow residents – across borders – and the audience, too. Although the narrative is slow-paced and the aura is a mixed bag of gloom and conflict, this societal drama conjures up a storm within you and ask a few uncomfortable questions: what makes Mumbai, Mumbai? Who really is an ‘outsider’ in today’s world? And, why are they treated differently?Īs the 60-year-old former police personnel still looking for a way in, Bajpayee barely mouths any dialogues and even when he does, they are mostly the mumblings of a dejected man. And now – as a fictional recap of the plight of those who went home, and those who couldn’t – we have ‘Bhonsle’ portraying the not-so-posh side of the financial capital of India: where Bhaiya is often used more like a racial slur and not what you call your brother, and a section of the society wanting to drive them out as they believe Maharashtra is only for those born and bred in the state. Just days ago, the then completely locked-down nation woke up to the horrific visuals of thousands of migrants flocking the streets to get home braving Coronavirus and exposing themselves to the threat of fatal consequences (out of exhaustion and hunger). The timing of Sony LIV’s ‘Bhonsle’ – which, we hear, has been a festival-circuit favourite for a while now – couldn’t have been more apt. Bhonsle’s years of quiet existence is suddenly shaken up by the unexpected love and care he receives from the siblings and the newfound empathy towards this pair attracts an enemy – mouthy and reckless local taxi driver with political aspirations, Vilas (Santosh Juvekar). Initially reluctant, perhaps out of habit, Bhonsle lets Sita and her brother Lalu into his dark and murky world of prison-like solitary, which in turn, paves the path for a beautiful companionship to foster and blossom. But, all that changes when a young nurse Sita from the ‘rival community’ shows up at his doorstep for a cursory introduction as his new next-door neighbour. The banality of his existence is so frustrating that one time Bhonsle dreams of dying a silent death while carrying on with the absurdities of his own life – old, alone, withdrawn and no one to keep him company. And that includes maintaining solid distance from the constant bickering and sometimes violent confrontations between Bihari migrants and the local Maharastrians at his ‘chawl’ in suburban Mumbai. REVIEW: A man of few words and steady habits – washing clothes, cooking, feeding the dog before calling it a day – Bhonsle is aloof and oblivious to what’s happening around him. But, the arrival of a migrant neighbour, Sita Prasad (Ipshita Chakraborty Singh) and her younger brother Lalu (Virat Vaibhav) poses a pertinent question: who is an outsider, and who are our own? STORY: Retiree Ganpat Bhonsle (Manoj Bajpayee) leads a monotonous life in a dingy ‘kholi’ that is divided between two distinct communities – ‘Marathi manoos’ and the ‘Bhaiyas’.