Ghoomketu: Things can change overnight

Saurabh Tankha

We have had films on young boys and girls wanting to make it big in Bollywood (Rangeela, Luck By Chance to name a few), but no one ever wrote about smalltime writers with stars in their eyes. Well, there is one now, though not released in theatres, but on OTT platform Zee5. Written and directed by Pushpendra Nath Misra, Ghoomketu is the story of a small-time writer by the same name, from Mahona in UP, who arrives in Mumbai to make it big as a writer in the film industry. Ghoomketu  is a very different and hilarious take on his quest with his small stories woven as special montages which run through the entire length of an hour and 40 minutes.

To tell your frankly, I didn’t have much hope when I began watching the film. Though the name interested me, having Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a protagonist didn’t at all. I have seen his earlier ones like Photograph and Raman Raghav. Sad stories aren’t my cup of tea.

But all my hopes were dashed as the film panned out – there is not a single sad or boring moment throughout the movie, there are some very emotional ones though. As a small towner nobody having huge aspirations, Siddiqui simply excels.

Curious to know about how to make it big as Bollywood writer, he writes not one, not two but five scripts in different genres – horror, romance, sci-fi, melodrama, none of which is liked. Finally, he drops the idea and returns to Mahona.

Apart from the main characters – Raghubir Yadav (as Dadda), Ila Arun (as Santo Bua), Swanand Kirkire (as Guddan Chacha), Brijendra Kala (as editor Joshi), and Anurag Kashyap (as inspector Badlani), the film has a host of big time actors like Chitrangda Singh, Ranveer Singh, and Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and none other than the Big B in cameos.

Each character is etched with care and comes with his/ her idiosyncrasies. Even Ragini Khanna who plays Ghoomketu’s wife, and whose face for most part of the film is hidden behind a veil has done a good job of shrieking every time something untoward is said to her. But the clear winners are Ila Arun as the doting Santo Bua who helps Ghoomketu run away to Mumbai and Raghubir Yadav, the distressed Dadda who has an inkling about it but cannot say anything to his sister. Yadav, whom I first saw in Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne on TV decades back, and then last week in Panchayat, has brought forth the emotions of a strict and restrained father with deep love for his son, with much ease. I am sure the viewers will be able to relate to the banter between Santo Bua and Dadda as also the strong bond of love.

The film also proves that family ties never get broken – you may fight your heart out, argue and be rude with each other but the underlying string of love never, ever breaks. The last scene wherein Dadda brings a few gifts for Ghoomketu who has got a job in local magazine is pretty emotional.

The film also has a message: If all the cities were developed and had job opportunities, there would be no migrants living in tenements in big cities and burdening them. And the finale scene, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, reaffirms the fact that one must not lose hope, that things can change overnight.