Parallel movies are often overshadowed by the mainstream ones. People go on to tag such movies as slow and boring. However, this is what true art looks like until you decode it on your own. And once you reach there, it would open you to a whole new world of art and real cinema. Bipin Nadkarni’s recently released film Darbaan is one such attempt and has proved out to be one of the finest releases of 2020. Based on Tagore’s short story, the film has garnered rave reviews from the viewers as well as the critics.
The emotional and heartwarming quotient of the film is what made it everyone’s favourite. Apart from the story, Darbaan stood out in terms of strong performances which did complete justice to the story and its characters. And in here, Shairb Hashmi turned out to be the show-stealer whose apt performance and ability to carry Raicharan’s emotions helped Darbaan grab the title of the ‘most-loved film’ of 2020.
So, here’s taking a look at 5 High-Pitched Scenes from Darbaan where Sharib Hashmi left a long-lasting impression of his act.
After the disappearance of the little master, we see a transformed Raicharan altogether carrying heavy guilt in his mind. After a few months of Sidhu’s disappearance, Raichu’s wife (Rasika Dugal) tries to surprise her husband with the good news of her pregnancy. But Raichu is still in the recovering-yet-beginning phase of the guilt taking over him. And his reaction ultimately ends up leaving the viewers with a shocker. Hashmi drives this short scene so perfectly that his emotions come alive on-screens.
After giving birth to their child, Raichu’s wife dies of pregnancy complications. Raichu’s sister takes care of the child while the latter ignores him. However, a beautiful scene builds up in the midst of the story where the baby calls Raichu in an adorable way. And yet again Hashmi nails this scene with utter perfection with emotions oozing out. Raichu’s soul being served to his master Anukul, he takes his own son as a reincarnation of the little master which further makes the plot more mysterious and psychologically driven.
Raichu sets a luxurious life for his son, fulfilling all his desires but not as a father. He enacts as a loyal servant and calls his own son ‘Chote Babu’. And while everything seems back on track, Raichu happens to meet one of his ex-colleague which makes him confront his past. And the trauma of guilt takes over once again. In one of the scenes, Raichu ends up getting into a fight with a man who accuses him of stealing the child. And all these scenes are nothing but his illusions which Hashmi as an actor has essayed perfectly.
Bearing the pain of a child’s death is not quite easy. And throughout his life, Raichu has been dealing with a load of heavy guilt. And in order to amend his mistakes as a loyal servant, he ended up giving his whole life to raise Sidhu whom he believes to be a reincarnation of the little master. In a scene, just before the climax, Raichu hallucinates a man blaming him for stealing the child. This act by Hashmi stands strong throughout the film as he makes us feel the character’s trauma, in a way we experience his sufferings.
“Guilt becomes a gift that keeps on giving.” The same happened to Raicharan who ended up sacrificing his own means and in the end, he gave his own son back to Anukul while also taking the blame for stealing Anukul’s son. And in this final-yet-unexpected scene we as the viewers feel that it was the moment when Raicharan became our personal favourite character, and the strongest one we have seen in recent times.
There could not have been a perfect conclusion to this story, and Sharib Hashmi did not act here, he completely lived up as Raicharan creating an impression of Tagore’s protagonist in our minds.
Darbaan is now streaming on Zee5.