The Mehta Boys

‘The child is father of the man…’ Whatever William Wordsworth may have meant by that poetic expression, sons and fathers are as inextricably linked as a mother’s umbilical connection binds her to her children. Yet, fathers and sons are always on a tricky terrain, invariably perched on delicate ground, rarely common. “Is he an adult or a child?” — the question pops up from a perplexed son finding it difficult to get a grasp of his father’s whimsical ways. “He is your father, you are the child,” comes the honest reply from his girlfriend. Boman Irani, who has proved his mettle as an actor more than once, now comes with his directorial debut, ‘The Mehta Boys’, where he brings out the tensions immanent in a father-son relationship in the same nuanced manner which has marked his acting. After winning the Best Feature Film award at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, the film is currently streaming on Prime Video, and is as much about the father-son conflict as it is about love and affection.

Boman Irani began acting in films in his 40s. From the start, it seemed like he’d always been there. He was a throwback to an earlier era of actors like Charles Laughton and Alex Guiness who were happy to disappear behind a wig, a fake nose, an accent. Irani could, of course, play it straight, like the father in Lakshya. But no one was better at going broad. His Khurana in Khosla Ka Ghosla and Asthana in Munnabhai M.B.B.S. are legend, but there’s a spectacular rogue’s gallery stretching from Darna Mana Hai to Don, Well Done Abba to Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd to Jayeshbhai Jordaar. Irani stars in The Mehta Boys and does a fine, fussy, fretful job. It’s also his first film as director, co-written with Alexander Dinelaris (Birdman) and co-produced by his company, Irani Movietone. It’s a polite little film about a recently bereaved family, emotionally available, a bit shapeless. Not all directors start with a big swing, but this is closer to forward defence.

Self-assured is one thing that actor Boman Irani’s directorial debut, The Mehta Boys, definitely is. It is a refreshingly unpretentious father-son drama that neither strives for gratuitous pace nor looks for pronounced complexity and yet manages to be not only thought-provoking but also emotionally involving. The director is also the lead actor and co-producer of the Amazon Prime Video film but he clearly isn’t weighed down by the workload. He maintains a firm grip on a narrative centred on a 71-year-old Navsari-based man coming off the demise of his wife and his fraught relationship with his only son, an architect who flew the coop a decade ago in pursuit of a career in Mumbai. The Mehta Boys, scripted by Boman Irani and Oscar-winning screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris (Birdman), isn’t crammed with high drama, surprise twists and radical themes. It has its share of emotive highs and performative crescendos but that does not deflect it off its clean, even and realistic arc.

Is he an adult? Is he a child? He is your father. In his first directorial venture, Boman Irani renders a keenly observed, lived experience of an urban Indian family as he finds the simple answer to the tricky question. The tension between father and son never goes out of fashion in creative space, but the expression often tilts towards one generation or the other. Boman and co-writer Alexander Dinelaris (of Birdman fame) walk the rope in this tender exploration of a jagged relationship that leaves a sobering impact. Rich in detail, redolent with melancholy, and peppered with meaningful motifs, the film caresses a raw nerve. The duo generates a dialogue between two generations without getting pedantic, without losing sight of the plot. A charming, emerging architect struggling to find his voice in the boardroom, Amay (Avinash Tiwary) returns home after the sudden demise of his mother to see his grieving father Shiv (Boman) wilt. Though grappling with loss, Shiv doesn’t seek his son’s shoulder to cry. Amay doesn’t offer it either. Like most Indian families, the two share a silent relationship that appears strained from the outside. His sister Ana (Shikha Sarup) is the link connecting the two. She wants to take her father to the US. But is the father ready to make the emotional shift? She bribes him with his favourite meal, but Shiv sees through the design.

Boman Irani just enriched his resume, adding to his impressive repertoire of performances, a sterling debut as writer-director. Strained father-son relationships have consistently provided fodder to Hindi cinema. From the Dilip Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan cop-son drama of Ramesh Sippy’s Shakti to the violently successful Anil Kapoor-Ranbir stand-off in Animal, the stress comes in different forms. Boman Irani’s contribution to this troubled bond birthed at home, is hot chocolate comforting. The loss of his wife of many years spells emotional upheaval on multiple fronts for retired typing school owner and teacher Shiv Mehta (Boman Irani). He has to respect the pact he’d made with his wife that the partner who outlives the other would move to America to stay with daughter Anu (Puja Sarup). It’s a wrench for him to bid goodbye to their home in Navsari, Gujarat. To the memorabilia and to memories, his gully cricket with little boys, his Gavaskar-signed bat, his manual typewriter.

Directed and co-written by Boman Irani, the film also stars him as one of the leading characters alongside Avinash Tiwary, who plays the role of his son Amay. The Mehta Boys follows the father-son duo exploring the complicated relationship and the underlying care and love in it. The film’s music and direction keeps the experience raw and relatable, however the writing in the second half begins to falter a bit. Nonetheless, the message comes across well, and it is the performances that keeps you going. The film begins with Amay’s journey as an architect who isn’t able to assert himself at his workplace, everyone is seen trying to support his vision and his work. But he often ends up giving into the high authority of his seniors even if he doesn’t agree with him. But things begin to change for him when a meeting in his office is interrupted to inform him that he received a call about his mother’s passing. Without a second thought, Amay leaves for his home.

The spiky relationship between a father-and-son, which shapes the narrative in ‘The Mehta Boys’, leads us to predict a resolution in which things will get better. The theme has that familiar predictive tilt built into it, but what lifts ‘The Mehta Boys’ are the little spurts of unpredictability built into the script of Boman Irani’s directorial debut. That, and the performances, which are all pitch perfect.