All India Rank Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
Movie ki starting mein ek voice over tells your about the square root of minus 1 i.e I is an imaginary number.
A value that exists and doesn’t, quite like the middle class and its randomly changing definitions. Koi 2 log aapko same definition nahi de sakte, pooch ke dekho.
1997 mein IIT ke entrance exams ki taiyyari karne, beman se Kota pohonchta hai Vivek. Only child ka bojh already hai sir pe, saath mein pitaaji ki “IIT clear karke family ki izzat rakhni hai” ki direct instructions, and mummy ne “beta tum hamaare budhaape ka shara ho” ka invisible sandook sir pe rakh ke bheja hai. All he has for comfort in this new, equal parts competitive and disheartening new town is a jar of home-made laddoos he plans to ration through the year.
Gradually, as it happens in all movies and shows about people moving to a new town to prep for an exam, he meets other oddities like himself, realizes he isn’t alone in the struggle, all their worlds collide for a brief bit, become one giant gaseous bubble of grief/rebellion, until the bubble bursts and jis sheeghrata se sab ek saath aaye the, uss hi tarah alag ho jaate hain.
Yeh kahaani or iske versions pichhle kuch saalon mein baar baar repeat hoti dikhaayi thi hai in hindi entertainment, most notable with TVF’s highly popular show Kota Factory and more recently Vidhu Vonid Chopra’s 12th Fail. I had asked Varun Grover about this in my interview that’ll link here, aap dekhein, toh unhone kahaa ki woh yeh sab nahi dekh rahe jaan boojh kar.
So while Vivek’s story isn’t new, or novel, anyone who has even stepped foot on the outskirts of Kota, knows of the plight of the the students there, so haan despite it not being a story you haven’t heard before, All India Rank works because it’s not TRYING to be any other story, except what it is. Despite its title, All India Rank isn’t about the competitive exams and what it takes to get that ranking, it chooses to focus more on the mysterious and arbitrary “middle class”, and its desperation to be anything but this randomly defined group of people who are destined to suffer under taxation and inflation until their offspring achieve higher education and miraculously rescue them from a life offices where Diwali bonuses are new Tupperware jars each year.
North India mein yeh kahaani itni common hai, ki isko naye tareek se keh paana, without resorting to cliches bhi koi asaan kaam nahi hai. Varun peppers the story with tiny sub-plots working to enhance the realism of the milieu saath mein give you occasionally something else to look at when the proceedings get a little too predictable. In a group of 4 friends, the protagonist falls for the only girl is a given, and one of the besties not being able to make it close to giving up is also to be anticipated. What you don’t expect, and what truly works is when the action moves AWAY from Kota, back to Vivek’s parents. His father faces suspension from his government job for absolutely nonsensical reasons, and his mother faces harassment from a college student. Both Shashi Bhushan and Geeta Agrawal Sharma are seamlessly tragic and torn and adequately exasperated as the parents, exemplifying that very specific kind of Indian elders who act entirely differently at home, and are altogether new people when in public. Too scared and fearful for their own hard earned material assets, passing on their trepidations and frights to their children, who’ll spend the better part of their 20s and 30s trying to find their place in a world they’ve been taught is out to get them. Unless they become doctor engineers.
The film’s triumph lies in the acutely observed small things that make up this world. When a parent says “FD tudwa rahe hain”, how that simple statement can sound so harsh and apocalyptic? When a student lies on their bed, simply looking up at the ceiling fan, how bleak and dark one intrusive thought at that moment can be, when and how we learn to lie about romantic relationships, diminishing them in front of our parents, and embellishing in front of friends. The ambiance is so unhurried, almost gelatinous, when I looked around after watching the film, and saw goras around me IRL, mujhey yaad aaya ki main actually India mein nahi hoon, movie itni realistic banaayi hai.
The songs help the screenplay immensely, all written by Grover himself. We also spoke about the ridiculously catchy Noodle Sa Dil, again who interview sun lena. Nearly all lyrics are laden with middle class ki upar uthne ki aspirations, “noodles’ are such a treat, songs are being written about it. “acchi baatein hain kitaabon mein”, kyunki salvation ka tareeka yehi sikhaya gaya hai, even when graffiti on walla screams, “fuck IIT”. We are literally ignoring the writing on the wall, kyunki delulu was the only solulu.
When you boil it down to its essence, and why the film is structured the way it is, All India Rank is simply a heartfelt, almost pained look back at Varun Grover’s own formative years. The experiences that have made him the lyricist, writer and stand-up comic he is today, and the years he perhaps could have used pursuing interests closer to his heart. It’s a sincere attempt to encourage an older generation to atone, and a younger generation to find trust and community. But perhaps in an attempt to set the film apart from others, Varun relies a little too heavily on an un-necessary 4th wall breaking voiceover. Vivek says “Uss din Sarika ke saath uske hostel gaye”, as you see Vivek going to Sarika’s hostel with her. The exposition device is never quite explained, and like 12th fail, you’re just supposed to accept that the protagonist is talking to the viewer sitting in the movie theatre, explaining the film to you as it unfolds. The screenplay also struggles with generating enough tension or deeper interest for one to begin impassionate rooting for Vivek. Boddhisatva Sharma’s performance as Vivek holds the show together though. Occasionally his looks of confusion and desperation are so pititable, that you want start suggesting other career options to him. Good looking ladka hai, tu model bann jaana baad mein, tension mat lena, it get better! Samta Sudhiksha is apt as Sarika, but the character is written with little depth or nuance, making it a performance that gets overshadowed by everything else surrounding it.
All India Rank, has India in its title, pointing at the bleaker, not so celebratory ways the country is bound together. The lack of recourse for the common man, the not-so-rich, rich folks jinko sapne dikha diye cable tv aur internet ne and lekin bataya nahi ki achieve kaise karein. If you find yourself resonating to the idea, jaake dekh aayein film, lagi hai theatres mein, aur indie cinema ko karein support!
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, All India Rank is……1 saal mein 1 video apney channel par upload karne waaley Varun Grover ke YouTube page par jaayein aur dekhein the sweet little things the team has been doing to promote the movie. Wahaan Vishal Bhardwaj ka gaya hua ek naya gaana bhi milega, neeche 2–4 comment mein likh dena Sucharita sent me here.
