Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I've noticed that many have criticized this beautiful film by stating that the themes of inter-religious feuds and riots were deliberately presented in order to attract the Western audience. I doubt this was Sen's primary intention and it's not as if such tragic events haven't happened in India. Indian history is stained with the blood of people who died in such feuds.That said, 'Mr. and Mrs. Iyer' isn't even mainly about the Hindus vs Muslims feud. It's about the encounter of two people of different backgrounds who coincidentally meet during their journey to a common destination and how this union develops into a nameless love. And, in a very subtle way, we see how Meenakshi transforms from a highly educated, ignorant and prejudiced lady to a highly educated, selfless and caring woman. All she does is open her heart. The tribal war is an important and symbolic part of the movie's backdrop but never does it overtake Raja and Meenakshi's story. What we are shown is suggestive and gruesome but suitably brief while remaining poignant. Aparna Sen has handled the sequences quite exceptionally.Not only is the film meticulous in the technical aspect of its execution (such as the stunning cinematography, first rate editing, highly effective lighting and sound effects and a bewildering score), Sen's direction is subtle and poetic. The score and the performances are brilliantly downplayed. The photogenic location is breathtaking and it only makes it more chilling and tragic that such ugliness can exist within the beauty and taint it with blood.Konkona Sen Sharma gives one of the most riveting performances of Indian cinema. This is truly one remarkable actress. One who doesn't speak a word of Tamil (other than a few lines in the film) but masters the diction with such precision that no one would guess that this woman is anything other than a Tamilian. Sharma plays her part very naturally and with sheer ease. Rahul Bose does a fine job too and the supporting cast do very well.I can describe 'Mr. and Mrs. Iyer' as a beautiful symphony, an epic ballad and a sensational story.

Every once in a while I see a film that I can't get out of my mind. There are movies that transcend their setting in such a way that they display the human condition without all its cultural baggage. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is just such a movie. To those inside and outside India who think that Bollywood is the only cinema worth exporting from India, they should see Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. Everything in this movie is nuanced to the Indian environment but is immediately comprehensible to the non-Indian viewer. In the version I saw, there were even subtitles for English as well as the Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, etc. for goodness sake. I quite disagree the reviewers who say that only an Indian could understand this movie.I think that the attraction of this movie stems from the fact that the main characters are very, very imperfect yet they rise above their imperfection to perform noble deeds. The main female character, Meenakshi (acted by the writer's daughter) is a naive prig and a Madras Brahmin. The main male character, Raja, is a Moslem wildlife photographer, proud, egotistical and insensitive as only a man can be. These two disparate personalities are thrown together by circumstances and Raja is asked to accompany Meenakshi and her child to Calcutta from the hills of Assam. They find themselves on a bus stranded in the middle of a rural Hindu/Moslem violent disturbance along the route.Aparna Sen has written one of the most horrible scenes in all the movies I have ever seen. Hindu villagers besiege the bus and the driver/conductor abandon the passengers to the thugs (the most terrifying apparently acted by her son). The Hindus demand that all the Moslems aboard identify themselves and, if male, must drop their trousers to prove that they are uncircumcised Hindus. Some aboard the bus, like Cohen the Jew, act badly and denounce an old Moslem couple to save themselves. Meenakshi acts nobly and claims that Raja, the caste-less Moslem, is her husband, Mr. Iyer, and a Brahmin no less. The lie saves Raja but forces the odd couple to stay in each other's company until they can leave the troubled area back to Calcutta. Raja acts nobly and protects Meenakshi and her toddler until safe, sometimes a little grumpily but the movie is about real, flawed human beings after all.This movie is all about how love can develop between a man and a woman without becoming involved in sex. This is not a policy of "No sex, please. We're Indian." The love between Raja and Meenakshi is impossible to consummate partly because of the religious gulf between them and partly because Meenakshi is a married woman with a child. These two people obviously enjoy the fantasy honeymoon they give themselves in order to preserve their secret from a group of curious young women. When after escaping danger together several more times, they finally touch and caress their fingers (fully clothed), that is as erotic a moment as you will see in any explicit European or North American film.What more can I say? I loved this film. If you ever get the chance to see Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, don't pass it up.

Aparna Sen has written and directed a winner !!!This movie addresses an issue that is often dealt with but has never been treated with as much clarity and closer to reality as this. It is amazing how Aparna Sen has managed to bring out the brutality and the futility of communal riots without the usual mind-numbing violence and blood shed. It reminds us how baseless are the inherent prejudices in the minds of people against people of other religions. Another thing it does is to show how thin the line is between marital fidelity and otherwise. For a Bengali, Konkana Sen pulls off the part of a Tamilian very convincingly. And Rahul Bose as the pensive photographer, has outdone himself. Their fateful meeting and the journey that they embark on, is one that you don't want to miss. All in all a beautiful movie.

I am amazed by one detail in this movie, and thats the sensuality with which Aparna Sen has picturized her daughter in Mr and Mrs Iyer. Its not new in Indian cinema what with Raj and Rishi Kapoor, Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt, the relentless Amitabh and Jaya and Abhishek Bachchan and many more.I was going to say outright that the acting sucked. But it works only where affection is meant to ignite between Meenakshi Iyer (Konkona Sen) and Raja/Jehangir Chaudhary (Rahul Bose), which is forced upon us. The music kills you, especially what is supposed to be Hindustani music has a vocalist (Ustad Zakhir Hussain ? ) singing in English ! The body language cannot be translated to English vocabulary. When there are scenes of fanatic mob attacks or a young woman cajoling her husband, as an Indian I understand the stiffness as a result of excessive hand movement for example where language is not expressing enough.The only Indian-English movie I've seen which works is Monsoon Wedding, but of course the difference being that movie deals with characters whose first language is English. Pretty Rahul Bose has a scene where he is roped into pretend as the conductor of a broken down bus and lie about 5 star accommodation in the middle of a war-ravaged area (seems like it could be near the border of West Bengal-Bangladesh). And he speaks in his native public-school accent.Unless you're an Indian, there is little to relate to in this movie. Thumbs down anyway.