Dear Father (2022 film)

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• Paresh Rawal

1. REDIRECT Manasi Parekh

Dear Father Gujarati Film Trailer This story is based on the acclaimed Gujarati Play "Dear Father" written by Late Uttam Gada originally written by Vivek Bele. The story revolves around three major characters in the film. Ajay Mankad, who is a lawyer; his wife Alka, a professor of Mathematics; and Ajay's father Manubhai. (Officer Vishnu Jadeda will be played by the same actor who isplaying Manubhai. This is used as a metaphor to justify Manubhai's side in the argument which Manubhai was never able to present.) The story begins with senior investigating officer, Vishnu, coming to lawyer Ajay to investigate a mishap that has taken place in the family. The story unfoldsas Vishnu conducts his investigation, and the varying equations between a father, his son and daughter-in-law cometo light. There are perpetual differences between the father and the daughter-in-law, which the son very delicately and most of the times very impartially sorts out, taking the side of themore practical and truthful person. He tries to be balanced,but forgets that he and his wife patch-up the moment she rests her head on his shoulder in their bedroom but the father keeps waiting for his son to speak to him properly fordays together and has restless sleepless nights. There are arguments about how Alka ignores her domestic duties because of her demanding profession and how, in the bargain, Ajay has to do things which generally a daughter-in-law does. Alka concludes by saying that this is making Manubhai lose brownie points in front of his friends and howhe loses the opportunity to flaunt Alka as a trophy and hisachievement of discipline. Tired of the constant fights between the two of them, Ajay decides to take everyone out for a weekend as suggested by his colleague and family friend Kartik. Manubhai and Alka areat loggerheads, maintaining the indirect sugarcoated pot shots in a humorous manner... the kind that every married couple staying in a joint family will identify with. The situation goes a bit out of control when Manubhai againblames Alka for falling short of domestic responsibilitiesand how Ajay is made a scapegoat in the process. Once they’re back home, Alka explains to Ajay the games that she thinks Manubhai is playing to create a rift between husband and wife.

She also tutors her husband about how he can make this facetof his father surface, were he looking for proof himself: With examples, she tells Ajay how Manubhai will talk, reactand behave in the given situation and blame Alka for whateveris happening. She also mentions that while doing all the badmouthing Manubhai will keep inserting small feel-good one- liners like... dil ki bahut achhi hai, lekin samajhti nahi hai... When Ajay sits down for a drink with his father, Manubhai does exactly what Alka has predicted. Ajay loses his cool andblames Manubhai for trying to create distance between the twoof them. He tells Manubhai that Alka had already told him howhe will react. Manubhai is shocked and feels this was a traplaid by the two of them to prove him wrong. Ajay and Manubhaihave a showdown. Two days later, Manubhai falls off from their 6th floor apartment balcony. Coming back to the investigation - Ajay and Alka tell Vishnuthat it was an accident due to excessive drinking by Manubhai. From this point on, Vishnu starts drawing conclusions of hisown from a cold, third person perspective. His arguments remind the couple of Manubhai; had Manubhai been a cop, hewould have sounded and looked exactly like Vishnu. SUICIDE THEORY Vishnu takes poetic liberties in the course of his investigation, more than his profession would allow and advocate, highlighting Manubhai's plight. First, he claimsthat this was not an accident but a compelled and drivensuicide attempt due to the behavior of the two of them towards Manubhai. Ajay and Alka deny all allegations and Vishnu provides legalevidence to prove that it is a suicide.

MURDER BY ALKA THEORY Ajay and Alka are on the verge of admitting their mistakewhen all of a sudden Vishnu declares that it was definitelynot a suicide but a murder attempt by Alka.

MURDER BY AJAY THEORY After full-proof explanation produced by Vishnu about Alka'sinvolvement, Ajay begs for mercy and settlement on her behalfwhen Vishnu turns his guns toward Ajay and says all the previous theory was a trap to expose Ajay and frames him forthe murder of his father now again with full proof evidence. Through three startling full-proof but intentionally 'fake'deductions - holding the couple responsible for Manubhai's fall in permutations and combinations - Vishnu gradually exposes the couple's hard-nosed attitude that denounced Manubhai as the sole cause of all family strife. As Vishnu observes, "it's easy to collect evidence once the culprit isfixed. And those who can't articulate their standpoint in thelanguage of the powers-that-be, stand to lose everything - including their pride." A wooden stool in the balcony which had Manubhai's hand andfoot prints on it; the unscrewed railing of the balcony andits nuts and screws along with the screw driver lying beside;a larger syringe in the house than the regular insulin one;the finger prints; a small portion of the broken wind-chimein Manubhai's hands and the rest in the balcony - all thesestand as evidence of the possible murder. It is then, that Vishnu makes the final revelation, whichleaves the couple questioning their own behavior towardsManubhai over the past few years.

SUMMARY

The story is a representation of growing sense of alienationin the minds of the senior citizens of today's nuclear structures. They are distanced from the mainstream of familyaction, having been denied the pivotal roles of the now defunct joint families, hence some of them demand attentionthrough the tool of nuisance value. It's an attempt to show the futility of the so-called fluentlogic of today's pompous professionals in trying to pin downhapless parents in hopeless debates.