A Bollywood Movie Review – October by Shoojit Sircar

On a Friday at 8 am I was extremely busy catching up on eight hours of sleep in mere five hours. Another wasted night of staring at my screen. My phone sprung to life as I saw my childhood friend’s name appear on the screen. I made the mistake of picking it up. “Get up we are going for a movie ” and I had no choice. In exactly ten minutes she was at my place ready to muscle me for a movie. Maybe I need to find a different group of friends. “Why are we doing this? I have a presentation at 1” I groaned. “We’ll be done by 12, hurry up!”

So I quickly changed my clothes, brushed, ate my breakfast and ran outside to find an auto. Now, I must say, normally I am not such an energetic improv girl. Neither is my friend. However, it had been days since I had spent time with her and I had bailed on too many plans before so I rushed along with this. “Which movie are we going for?”

“October”
“Which one?” I asked. She rolled her eyes and said
“It’s a Varun Dhawan film”
“You’re taking me to watch an action film in the morning?”
“No, check out the trailer it looks different”

So I did. It surely looked different. It looked rather….not Bollywoody. The storyline seemed interesting, of a girl that wakes up from an accident having forgotten everything and takes the name of just one boy. The boy is confused as to why she’s asking for him. It also looked like Varun Dhawan was trying something different so I relaxed. Alright, this can be interesting. However, I later realised the trailer wasn’t what the movie was about.

As expected we reached ten minutes late for the movie but were able to catch up on the story soon enough. There had been an accident of a girl that fell off the roof. The police wondered if her friends pushed her. This questioning itself put an eerie feeling where no one could be trusted. Next, her friends, who work at a hotel, discuss the event as it happened.

Here it felt like the movie was going to dive into thriller or suspense genres where there’ll be a mind-blowing twist in the end. However, that didn’t happen.

Varun Dhawan in October’s poster

Overall, the movie kept me engrossed. It was fast-paced in its cuts but slow in its storyline. Which worked because it gave a realistic feel while not boring me. Maybe the biggest compliment I can give to the movie is that it wasn’t passive. It made me uncomfortably cringe and shift in my seat more than a couple times. It enwrapped me into itself and did not spoon feed information the way Indian audience is used to. For example, there was a lot of exposition done by dialogues which were interesting to see. One of the main last turning points was foreshadowed in a dream and then confirmed by a random conversation that was heard in moving. There were various shots that were beautiful to look at and kind of artistic, the hospital bed scene, the scene where Varun Dhawan has a conversation with his friends at his home and then walks out on pizza (PIZZA!). However, such shots weren’t continuous throughout the movie which made such artistic shots almost not fit in. The camera had some beautiful movements throughout though.

The actors were very well into the character, even the supporting actors felt necessary. Overall each character added to the story and you could get the Delhi vibe from each actor. The patient, Shiuli Iyer, looked real and almost as if she was actually suffering. You could see the transitions on her face as she recovered. Which was important because it showed the seasons change and time pass. Great job by the makeup artists and the actress herself. I wonder how Bollywood can make use of such amazing talent. Not just her, you could see the transition on Shiuli’s mother’s face too.The casting for the family looked about right and they all did justice to their roles by keeping it real. Varun Dhawan looked immature and a more realistic version of Judwa 2 ‘s weaker brother. He took several decisions that were downright stupid and illogical however maybe that was exactly how his character was. There were dialogues where he challenged the whole “logical” way of living and that made me wonder if doing things without logic are okay?
As I said, the movie did not let the viewer be passive and involves you in it. Varun Dhawan’s character Dan also went through changes just like the seasons. We can see how he grew up and took responsibility. This steady change in the charecter was carried out well by the actor.

Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu in October’s poster

Even though it is not the kind of a movie I would sit at home and actually finish, I am glad I churned out some cash from my emptying wallet and was actually forced to watch it. It was indeed different. There were a few scenes that made me teary, like the time she returns home, however the main climax didn’t hit as hard as it could. The end scene where Dan and Shirley ‘s mother sit and have a conversation over a cup of tea was my favourite scene in the entire movie. It was breathtakingly beautiful to look at and the dialogues were light as if they were talking about the war they survived.

I believe anyone who’s had experiences with hospitals can relate to this movie and the ones that don’t can have a good insight of it.

The details were captured well, “sanitize your hands”, “no night entry”, the innocent discussion in the start about pipes.

However, some details weren’t on point like they were asked to remove their shoes in ICUs but not their socks. Dan wore his socks inside the ICU multiple times. The pass entry into ICUs is time limited. People can’t just go in and come out whenever they want to.

In all I’ll give this movie three stars for its execution, story and unique realness. I believe the biggest sign that of a movie being good is when it lingers even after you leave the theatre. Which this one did. So congratulations to the makers of October. It was a beautiful movie handled very sensitively and maturely.

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Hey, lovelies, tried something new for you all. Might go ahead and do a review of a Hollywood movie too. Type in your suggestions in the comments.

Did you find this interesting? If so let me know in the comment below!

Also, did you watch this movie? If yes then did our thoughts on it match? Let me know 😀