Taxi!

Ah!
After a long time did I go to that forgetful audi of our holy alma mater. The populace was there for another movie resplendent with another of the myriad of Nana Patekar's indelibly enacted roles, this time of a haggard taxi driver. Yes, late but better than never, that I am, this one was Taxi No. 9211.

The hall was filled with a sonorous Sanjay Dutt, the narrator of the plot, and there was our protagonist, Raghav Shastri, who played the role of a simulacrum of our lives to perfection, so peevishly spent in this chase, where we all are scorned as rats. Raghav Shastri is another rat in this steeple chase, but like each one of us, who is unique, Raghav has his own predicaments, although in an altogether different context, but the harrowing life soused with tension is something we all relate to in some way or the other. He is stuck in this frugal world where money rules, a lower middle class dweller, he is out of a job. So he drives a taxi, this one with a twist in its tale, literally, the number - 9211. But he doesn't disclose this to his doting wife, a typical middle class housewife, more practical than romantic, who constantly bickers on the pending bills, the coming expenditures, and those pending.
Enter Jay Mittal, a flamboyant son of a rich father, too oblivious to the realities of life. For him, life is always a ball, a guy who thinks, and believes that money buys everything, cars, girls, and all the pleasures. To the point of signing off the poor as unfit for living, or to stay close to, Jay is driven by his own material desires, with his girlfriend Rupali, played with concern by Sameera Reddy. Before Jay's father dies, he left all his property to his dear friend, leaving Jay stranded and desperate, which has taken the face of a legal tussle between Jay and his uncle.
One fine morning the lives of these antonymal personalities meet, when Jay is forced to take this fateful taxi, to attend one of the life altering moments, the court case for the rights. Jay forces Raghu to speed, to drive faster, often cursing and at the same time begging him to comply. He offers the ultimate bait, money, flooding Raghu with big bills, and Raghu is tantalised, when he comes close to the only thing for which he is taking so much pains and conceit to acquire. But as the going of the fates proceed, Raghu bangs his taxi with another vehicle, and Jay being what he is, slips out, putting Raghu in a tough spot, subsequently landing in jail. But as Jay goes to take his will from some bank locker, he finds to his utter disbelief, that he left the keys to that safe in the car. Raghu on the other hand is ruined as his wife comes to know of his true engagements. Under this effect, Raghu tries to blame Jay for all his misdemeanors, only exposed through Jay, amounting to an attempt on Jay's life by him.

Trivia:
An action sequence was to be shot with some cars chasing 'John Abraham' . Unfortunately, at the time of shooting, Abraham's mother was crossing the road and she presumed he was being attacked and freaked out. Shooting was halted while Abraham calmed his mother and reassured her it was only a film shoot.
courtesy: imdb

What ensues is a vibrant scramble from both of them levelling scores against each other, squandering their own lives in the method. The movie takes a moral turn in the end when each character realizes their mistakes, and their mindsets which had a diminishing effect on their lives' happiness, made them forget their aims, to make their lives better, but all they savaged in return was their own, when the cure becomes the disease itself. Taxi No. 9211 analyses their thought processes, and portrays the extra-ordinary predilections they magnify into, only this time when the circumstances were anything but ordinary. It analyses the nitty-gritties of life, where we are so engulfed by our worries that each forgets to behave like a human, be benevolent, the seminal virtues of humility and honesty, to smile...
Nana is obviously excellent, delivering with a straight face, even the simplest of dialogues are crackling, especially towards the end when both of them reach Jay's home. Scenes after that are particularly metaphoric and give a message. The scene where Raghu breaks down, on his birthday, subsequented by John going to his uncle's house and making the drastic descision are specially symbolic and give the movie shape and character. The movie ends on a happy note, with a quirky satirical meeting of Priyanka Chopra, showing off the quintessential love at first sight, Bollywood ishtyle , garnished with a retro track which epitomises our way of fantasizing romance, however pragamtic, like a impressionable Indian cinegoer I cried (not literally) and smiled with the characters.

Taxi no. 9211 revolves around the lives, just 36 hours of the lives of these two characters, each disillusioned in its own way, towards the simple virtues of mankind. Obfuscated by the colors of life, the one which we want to achieve and the frustration of our present. Each character, on two opposite ends of the social hierarchy, but with a common desire to make their lives better, in the process making them bitter. Morally enlightening, the movie carries a quixotic message within. Milan Luthria's direction is par excellence, more so done justice by skills of Nana, and John doesn't disappoint and isn't stunted vis-a-vis Nana's calibre, but you feel like the role was made for him, he being iconically identified with the arrogant youth of the nation today. Sonali Kulkarni lives up to her reputation as a accomplished actress, plays the archetypical housewife, who is also an alter ego of her husband, showing him the right path, and never deserting him in his trying times, with elan.

All in all, a nice souffle to finish off an gourmet of a day, which picked up towards the end.