'Life Goes On' is a cycle of death

Film: Life Goes On
Director: Sangeeta Datta
Cast: Girish Karnad, Om Puri, Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan 

There’s one thing that no other film will be able to compete with this one for— the casting. With such a strong cast, you can safely put in anything in the screenplay and expect the actors to carry it through without a hint of doubt. That’s the advantage of having Sharmila Tagore, Girish Karnad, Om Puri and Soha Ali Khan! They acted so well that we almost forgot about the fact that the film is about somebody’s death and how the family is dealing with it.

Even though the incidents in the film look a little pre-conceived and predictable, the actors pull it off beautifully. There is not a single moment that can be regarded as bad acting on any actor’s part. Soha (even though she has to endure some unflattering camera angles) excels in good company and aptly portrays an introvert daughter, who is coping up with a mess brought about suddenly by her mother’s death and her Muslim boyfriend’s unborn child.

And the weakest part of the film? The story.  It’s ultimately about a family coping with the death of the ‘mother’ and problem is this: the death happens right in the first scene in the film. So you can imagine. The entire film revolves around that death… and everybody in the film is either sad, or weeping, or fighting with each other, screaming their lungs out.

Then there’s this recurring image of Sharmila walking silently in the woods in a yellow saree holding a branch in her hands. There must be all the arty reasons in the world to put the recurrent scene at least four times in the film (or did we count wrong?), but it definitely makes you wonder that this film was better as a straight narrative. But no, all those flashbacks and montages have to happen and ruin a plot that is already plagued with a perennial melancholy. We shudder to think what could have happened to the film had they not the strongest actors in the industry to boast of. If you love films and a little bit of arty rub, this is for you. If you are looking for entertainment after a hard day’s work, please stay away.