Aye Zindagi Review - A Small Film With A Big Message On Life & How To Pass That Gift To Others

Anirban Bose's Aye Zindagi, starring Revathy and Satyajeet Dubey, hasn't got anything to do with the Pakistani serial of the same name, nor with Suresh Wadekar's famous melody. Aye Zindagi is quite a small film that has come from nowhere to touch a good subject that hasn't been tried many times. Anand Gandhi's masterpiece Ship Of Thesus used it with high-end intellectual values, and that is a freaking big landmark for art cinema as far as Bollywood movies are concerned. Aye Zindagi has the same subject of Organ Donation, but carries it very differently and on a personal level. The cinematic genius, Anand Gandhi, went with anthology segments for Ship Of Thesus, and then brought them all together at the end, whereas Anirban's film is only about two (or maybe three) people. It is not as good as Gandhi's masterpiece, but it is a decent film with a powerful message about the greatest gift we all have, "Life."Based on an incredibly encouraging true story, Aye Zindagi is about Vinay Chawla (Satyajeet Dubey), a young, talented engineer who has liver cirrhosis. He travels from Lucknow to Hyderabad to meet Revathi Ranjan (Revathy), a counsellor who convinces people's families for organ donation. Vijay's hopes are rekindled by the promises made by Revathy, but getting a liver as per his body's requirements is not that easy. Frustrated Vinay starts losing hope and struggles with professional commitments, but little does he know that life has a big surprise awaiting for him.Aye Zindagi has a very nice message that will stay with you, but it doesn't come off flawlessly. The film, or rather its screenplay, struggles against the cancer of mediocrity and finds no medicine for that. Vinay's frustration post surgery was too immature for an educated engineer. It was such a simple thing to acknowledge, but he just stays in his own arrogant world for no reason. His love story with the night nurse, Manjula (Mrinamayee Godbole), looks kiddish in the beginning. However, he does get slammed for that after a while, which still doesn't justify the overall matter. Revathy, being a mature person, keeps mum. OK, that's good. In one of the scenes, she tells her son to show some maturity, but I wonder, why wasn't this said to a smart engineer like Vinay? Had there been a little more maturity in the characters, Aye Zindagi would have been so, so, perfect film.The best thing about Aye Zindagi has to be the performances of all the lead actors. Revathy has been a legend since the 90s with so many memorable performances to her name, but even at this age she hasn't lost her touch. She is so good in those emotional scenes and her Hindi accent is much better than other South actresses that have worked in Bollywood. The second best performer is Satyajeet Dubey. What a fantastic physical transformation he had in the film. He looked dull when he was supposed to look so. He looked handsome when required. His hair, eyes, skin, expressions, everything was on point as per the requirements of the character. One of the most important things was that he never looked like a typical hero, trying to look macho on screen. The same goes with Mrinmayee Godbole. She seems natural; that's what doctors usually look like. Sawan Tank, Hemant Kher, Shrikant Verma, Muskan Agarwal, Pranjal Trivedi, and Mandeep Kumar have done fairly well in their roles.The music is pretty situational here, and that's why, more than the audio, you concentrate on the video. They have important visuals as all the situations are such that they can't be missed. The editing is really good because the tailor has trimmed all the unnecessary slides from the 100-minute long cloth to deliver a perfect fit. What is lacking here is the crisp and USP elements that make your experience spellbound. Anirban's attempt is praiseworthy, but not a flawless one. The same subject could have been more smart and hard-hitting, but the mainstream vision of filmmaking pulls it from crossing the line. Nevertheless, Anirban has managed to send out a loud message to the entire humanity, and you can watch the film once to acknowledge that much-needed fact. "One person's death means the life of seven people." You better learn that soon.