Waiting Movie Review: Totally Worth The Wait

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin had teamed up for the first time in That Girl In Yellow Boots, a noir drama about a girl searching for her missing father in the mean streets of Mumbai and if you thought that was a good movie, then Waiting should definitely be on your 'must watch' list this weekend.

Tara Deshpande (Kalki) and Shiv Natraj (Naseer) run into each other at a hospital in Cochin where the two have come for their respective spouses. Shiv's wife (Suhasini Maniratnam) has been in a coma since the past few months, while Tara's husband Rajat (Arjun Mathur) has been admitted there following a serious car accident. Tara is completely shattered by this news and gravitates towards the 'Zen-like' Shiv for support and motivation.

How the two learn to deal with their grief and find strength to face the challenges they are faced with, forms the rest of the plot.

Naseer is effortlessly good as always and it is a sheer delight to see the veteran on the silver screen. As Professor Shiv Natraj, Naseer simply wows you with his dignified and old-world charm, which proves to be an able foil to Kalki's social-media savvy Tara (In one scene, Tara explains the concept of Twitter to Shiv, who asks with charming innocence, ''But what is the point of the whole thing?'', which will definitely make you guffaw appreciatively).

On her part, Kalki is quite relatable as the brash yuppie, who believes in the power of social media and utters expletives without blinking an eye. Her devastation at the news about her husband's tragic accident and the way she reacts to the crisis is totally real and touching. Rajat Kapoor as the doctor dealing with the two characters, too is quite charming though he doesn't have a meaty role.

The contrasting personalities of Shiv and Tara and the way they bond despite, or maybe, because of their different attitude towards life, is surely one of the highlights of the film. Despite the serious premise of the film, it is not bereft of humour, which makes you laugh without taking your attention away from the main plot at hand.

Director Anu Menon has done a great job of keeping the film away from the trappings of commercialism and has focused on making a genuine and warm story, which touches your heart. The film has no item songs, no action scenes and no larger-than-life dialogues and yet it has the potential to keep you glued to your seat without provoking a glance at your wrist-watch. Though the film might bring to mind Lost In Translation, Waiting is in a league of its own for sure.

Though the climax is slightly confusing as the reasons behind the decisions taken by the lead characters has not been explained properly, 'Waiting' is one touching and pleasant fare.