Its directed by Rituparno Ghosh who's given other hits such as Chokar Bali and Raincoat and many others.
This film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Shefali Shetty and Divya Dutta.
Technical Information
Country: India
Year: 2007
Language: English
Runtime: 130 minutes
Format: Colour/35mm
Rating: G
Cast & Crew
Production Company: Planman Motion Pictures
Executive Producer: Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee
Producer: Arindam Chaudhuri
Screenplay: Rituparno Ghosh, based on the play Aajker Shahjahan by Utpal Dutt
Cinematographer: Abhik Mukhopadhyay
Editor: Arghya Kamal Mitra
Production Designer: Indroneel Ghosh
Sound: Bishwadeep Chatterjee
Music: 21 Grams
Principal Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Shefali Shah, Jisshu Sengupta
Film Description and Director Biography
As the most revered movie star on the planet, Amitabh Bachchan can take his pick of roles. But never before has he played a character like this. Commanding the screen as a legendary stage actor making a movie for the first time, this giant of Indian cinema, playing his first-ever English-language lead role, reveals surprising new dimensions. For a star who has acted in more than 130 films over four decades, this is no small feat.
When first we meet veteran thespian Harish Mishra (Bachchan), he is gravely ill. The punishments of a film shoot have left the old man in a coma. His co-star, Shabnam (Preity Zinta), is wracked with worry, but their director, Siddharth (Arjun Rampal), keeps strangely distant and refuses to visit his ailing star. In flashbacks, their story emerges.
Siddharth first had to woo Harish from the comforts of his retirement, and the interaction between the two yields some of the film's most delightful scenes. The impatient young auteur attempts to win the trust and collaboration of the aged performer, who sits raging against the modern world from the sanctuary of his study. Sporting a silver mane, Bachchan is irresistible here – vain, forceful and impetuous. He trumpets the superiority of Shakespeare over anything cinema can create. And yet, the movies hold out a new challenge.
Once he agrees to act in the film, The Last Lear becomes a captivating reflection on the comparative artifices of stagecraft and cinema. As the outsider in the cast, Harish is hilarious in dismissing movie fakery. His theatre skills are grander. Standing on a hillside, he teaches Shabnam how to project her voice clear across a valley to the next hill.
As always, director Rituparno Ghosh excels in intimate scenes of conflict and revelation between characters, giving great opportunities to Zinta and Rampal. But the whole film feels like a valedictory gesture to Bachchan, who offers a master class in acting. Like Richard Burton, Toshiro Mifune or other larger-than-life greats, Bachchan demands to be watched. "You know what makes an actor?" his character asks. "The desire to perform. Nothing else matters."
Rituparno Ghosh was born in Kolkata to a family of artists. He graduated with a Master's degree in economics from Jadavpur University and has served as editor of the Bengali film magazine Anandalok. His films have screened at festivals around the world, winning numerous accolades. Since making his feature debut in 1991 with Diamond Ring, he has directed fourteen feature films in total, ten of which he also wrote. Among them are Crossfire (97), The First Monsoon Day (01), Chokher Bali, A Passion Play (03), Raincoat (04), Dosar (06) and The Last Lear (07).
Some stills from the movie
The film's suppose to air at the Toronto Film Festival Sept 9
Credit PZFC for the pics
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