Based on a true story, Shoojit Sircar’s latest film helmed by Abhishek Bachchan is about courage in the face of impending death
By Ashwini Gangal
Sircar, Bachchan push the envelope
Director Shoojit Sircar had once proudly declared in an interview that he always pushed his actors, his writers, his musicians, his cinematographers, and his entire team till he got his shots right. In his latest directorial outing I Want To Talk, Sircar appears to have pushed Abhishek Bachchan harder than any director might have in the past. Sircar, best known for directing films like Vicky Donor (2012), Madras Cafe (2013), Piku (2015), October (2018), and Sardar Udham (2021), might also have pushed himself over the brink for this one.
In the movie, which is based on a true story, Bachchan plays Arjun — with an ‘O’ — Sen, a Bengali settled in what seems to be a suburb of Riverside County in California. After a few brief scenes that establish Sen as a happily divorced, successful, Don Draper-esque advertising executive, the audience discovers, along with the protagonist, that he has an aggressive form of throat cancer. One of the affected areas is his voice box, which is where the film gets its title from. He is pronounced a man with around 100 days to live. At this point, the film truly begins.
Around 20 surgeries ensue over the next several years. It is in the depiction of his life around and between these procedures that the story unfolds. The audience is given a ringside view of what living with the sword of death hanging over one’s head looks like.
Not conventionally entertaining
Of all his relations — his parents make a brief appearance, his ex-wife is conspicuous in her absence, and his surgeon eventually becomes a friend — it’s Sen’s equation with his daughter Reya (Pearle Dey, Ahilya Bamroo) that is most well-defined in the film. At some level, it is through her coming of age that we put the hardships in Sen’s life in perspective.
I Want To Talk is a story about death. Death by suicide, death by heart attack, and of course, impending death by cancer…
The film contains many bleak realities, such as sickness and hospital scenes, that might trigger unpleasant thoughts or memories for sensitive viewers. It is intense, slow-moving—I mean that more in terms of camera work than anything else—and at times hard to watch. It is certainly not the average date-night type of film. It does not entertain in the conventional sense.
That said, I Want To Talk has stillness, something we could all use a dose of in an age of brain rot. And it makes one think long and hard, well after one has left the theater. It will certainly go down in Sircar’s filmography as one of his most daring attempts at storytelling. Outside of film nerd circles though, it will be remembered as an Abhishek Bachchan movie. After all, he is in nearly every frame.
Bachchan’s most ambitious performance yet
I Want To Talk might just be Bachchan’s most ambitious performance yet. For his fans, this is a must-watch. This film will definitely be something to reckon with for the I-only-liked-him-in-Guru brigade while rating his work again. If you don’t like him, this might just be the film that changes your mind. It is evident that he has approached this role with sincerity, both in terms of his craft and his physicality — he has gained considerable weight for this role.
It’s safe to say I Want To Talk is a story about death. Death by suicide, death by heart attack, and of course, impending death by cancer… it’s all in there. Vicariously, through Sen’s experiences, the audience spends the better part of two hours either looking Yamraj in the eye or dodging his ugly shadow that lurks around for years.
But it’s equally true that this is a movie about life. The real Arjun Sen didn’t cower in the face of a diagnosis that can bring even the most fearless person to their knees. This brave survivor showed us that when life gives you cancer, you fight.
Read: ‘Widespread’ sexual abuse of children in entertainment business revealed
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Ashwini Gangal is a fiction writer based in San Francisco, who has published stories and poems in literary magazines in the UK and Croatia.
Courtesy: India Currents (Posted on Jan 16, 2025)
