Hope aur Hum movie review: A wonderful family drama with great performances

Hope Aur Hum, directed by Sudip Bandyopadhyay and starring Naseeruddin Shah, Sonali Kulkarni, Aamir Bashir, Naveen Kasturia, Kabir Sajid, Virti Vaghani and others is a wonderful and unique family drama that tells three stories of three men of a family, and how they encounter different challenges in their stages of life. Beautifully shot, and often witty, the movie should be seen by many people for its unique perspective on family and the relationships that sustains them. Although the three different stories deal with different issues, they are braided in the narrative plot as a whole, so it doesn’t seem that we are just watching halves of the movies.

Nagesh Srivastava (Naseeruddin Shah) has to deal with a failing photocopy shop and an old machine, Neeraj (Naveen Kasturia) has to deal with a lost mobile phone that gets into the hands of a girl, and meeting with her, while the youngest son has seen something shocking in a chest, which drains him of his energies.

So, there are at least three themes and tones competing in the movie, but they work seamlessly because of the writing and because the actors play their characters with such conviction that you forget that their actors. Naseeruddin Shah is one of the great actors of India who sadly doesn’t get more appreciation these days, but his performance in the movie is another example of his greatness and experience. Sonali Kulkarni, although not given more to do, is lovely, and Aamir Bashir, Naveen Kasturia are all great in their respective roles. The movie should be scene by many and hopefully, others will be able to catch it near their homes, because such little gems need to be seen a lot.