Morning Walk

wogma rating: Watch if you have nothing better to do ^(?)

quick review:

Direction and story-telling of yesteryears meet a contemporary story. So modern that it is a difficult to digest. The gray characters are interesting but lose charm because of the archaic narrative style.

Director: Arup Dutta

Cast: Anupam Kher, Rajit Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore

Running time: 110 minutes

Genres: Family, Relationships, Romance

More Movie Info

The first few sequences of the film are pretty dreadful. I was actually worried that a downplayed Baghban was in store for me. Older generation = all good. Younger generation = all bad. Soon enough that morphed into something completely different and yet it was predictable. How they managed that is something you have to see yourself. The problem is none of this was done interestingly.

Dialogues were the most clichéd and thus not even yawn-worthy. The situations are given ample time to establish the equation between various characters. But, again none of them with a great impact. Individually the characters though had very interesting nuances. The villainous ones had a shade of good that went naturally with their personality and vice versa.

The prospect of watching Anupam Kher, especially when it's likely to be serious, is very exciting for me. But there's nothing special about his act here. Its neither a performance worth an applause nor would it receive negative feedback. Sharmila Tagore is her charming self. Divya Dutta took full advantage of the extra space afforded to her here and played the bitch to perfection. But ultimately over-dramatizes towards the end. Rajit Kapoor didn't have anyting exciting to convey the characters intentions were clear. The rest of the cast needs some serious acting lessons.

A huge irritant was a song playing at random moments, sometimes back-to-back. The music was an ear-sore, they were picturized in the most awful fashion. The lyrics - at least the ones I could hear without awful music distracting me - were decent. The music and lyrics were two distinct entities.

Usually in a 'different' concept, the climax is what makes or breaks the film. Here the cliffhanger at the interval just trashed the movie for me. It was so predictable and mundane that the audience was cursing itself for being in the theater. The bold climax didn't redeem the film. Despite characters behaving exactly as they were built so far. And that's a shame. Because it is in fact a huge step to defy prevalent social norms.

And thus, yet another promising story-line becomes a martyr at the hands of an ambitious director. The one who wants to film a story that is close to his heart but finds himself obligated to stick to commercial norms of song-dance-drama routines.

- meeta, a part of the audience

12 reviewers^(?) - 1 yays 2 so-so 9 nays

Warning: clicking on "full review" will take you to an external website that could contain spoilers.

Thumbs up, by Insiyah Vahanvaty, Rediff : ...While the story is a classic family drama, the performances of the supporting actors leave much to be desired.... full review

So-So, Movie Talkies : ...But there are far too many questions which are left unanswered by the film as to the nature of their relationship in the past and why they broke up... full review

So-So, by Mayank Shekhar, NDTV : ...There are just so many conflicts in the movie that you lose sight of a central plot. ... full review

Thumbs down, by Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama : ...this 'Walk' is just not refreshing!... full review

Thumbs down, by Deepa Giramella, fullhyd.com : ...The characters are bizarrely written ... full review

Thumbs down, by Minty Tejpal, Mumbai Mirror : ...the film is not personal enough, and a bit unevenly tempered.... full review

Thumbs down, by Nita Jatar Kulkarni, Now Running.com : ... Sharmila is as graceful as ever and her performance in this film is worthy of an award.... full review

Thumbs down, by Joginder Tuteja, Now Running.com : ...What one gets to see is a tale that immediately reminds one of the 1980s.... full review

Thumbs down, by Gohar Iqbal Punn, Radio Sargam : ...The movie is a saga of two families, who are quite different to each other nonetheless connected through a special bond. ... full review

Thumbs down, by Sampurn, real bollywoood : ...But the displeasure of Divya Dutta about her father in law’s arrival is ditto in the lines of Baghban.... full review

Thumbs down, by Sonia Chopra, Sify Movies : ...Morning Walk doesn`t have anything new to say and relies on silly manipulations to make the viewer sympathise.... full review

Thumbs down, by Janhvi Patel, StarBoxOffice : ...The movie asks an important question: Does love have anything to do with age?... full review

Twitter reviews for this movie are not available.

3 readers - 0 yays 2 so-so 1 nays

So-So, by Consumer Goods

So-So, by Durable Goods

Nay! Thumbs Down, by fifa world cup dream team

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Parental Guidance:

Violence: None
Language: Clean
Nudity & Sexual content: None
Concept: The underlying theme is that of an extra-marital affair. A comment on taking responsibilities for ones' own mistakes even if it is not socially acceptable. It also talks about love in old age.
General Look and Feel: It has a very old print feel to it. Maybe it was shot a while ago or the budget constraints are showing. But generally dull.