Making sense of madness

Manpriya Singh 

Let’s start with the first impressions, refer back to the title before the trailer and then of course the film itself. Just as producer Rrupaali Gupta had maintained throughout the course of promotions, 15 Lakh Kadon Aauga is an apolitical film, both in its intention and execution.  

The makers, true to their last outing Uda Aida, continue infusing sense into cinema and dish out a film where the actors don’t distract you and the songs don’t disrupt the storyline. And that is a huge departure from all things clichéd in Pollywood. 

Down on luck and thus also cash, a family man Jassi (Ravinder Grewal) is taken for granted at his home and on the road alike. Till he meets Rana Ranbir, who lifts the small and significant role that he has been trusted with. As a saffron-clad soothsayer by the day and alcohol-guzzling regular man by the night.  He is responsible for imparting the invaluable words of wisdom to the protagonist and a few provoking thoughts for the audience. 

“Appan hawa vich gal chad dayi di hai, jidi sachi hundi hai, uh baba man lenda hai.”  Which is just what his pupil aka Jassi does once he is mistaken for a baba on landing in a godforsaken village of Punjab, lacking in mobile connectivity.  

Therein come the political satire, social messages and the irony of villagers who are nothing but gullible voters. Of course, it takes an enlightened man in a robe to tell us what’ll it be this time, a boy or a girl? What are the chances that he’ll be correct? You guessed it. Right from a man who wants to take a loan to pay off his daughter’s dowry to someone wanting a male heir. All the issues come effortlessly woven into the storyline. The only few drawbacks? Only it plays a tad funnier in your head than it does on screen. You wish the dialogues were a little crisper and the situations a lot crazier.

Ravinder Grewal, as a fine actor, never overacts and only brings empathy to his character. You want this man’s fate to turn for better by the end of the film. Pooja Verma takes up a daunting role that of the mother of a grown up boy and plays it with sincerity. As for the 15 lakhs in each and every person’s account, for sure they are promised by the local leader played brilliantly by Hobby Dhaliwal. But will they come? Well, you don’t have to wait for the elections for this one, only the interval.