‘Binny And Family’ movie review: Anjini Dhawan and Pankaj Kapur bridge the generation gap in this heartfelt family drama

A still from ‘Binny And Family’ 

We often hear the declaration ‘I’m not a kid anymore’ or ‘I need my space’ in our surroundings, but seldom take the teenage angst seriously. Similarly, in our bid to outgrow our surroundings, we often begin to take the roots that nurtured us as outdated. After every few years, Bollywood stories remind us of the perils of keeping the generation gap wide. This week it is the turn of director Ssanjay Tripaathy to rejig the template with the story of an immigrant family in London for a new set of viewers. With an assured debutante and a competent support cast to enrich the mood, Tripaathy conjures up a series of heartwarming moments in a storyline that shuns big surprises or dramatic twists for a premise that is relatable, familiar conversations that sound honest, and performances that are not pretentious.

With roots in Bettiah, Bihar, Binny (Anjini Dhawan) and her upper-middle-class Singh family have shifted to London via Pune. On the cusp of adulthood, Binny is struggling to strike a balance between the school syllabus and her extra-curricular goals. Her father Vinay (Rajesh Kumar) and mother Radhika (Charu Shankar) are educated professionals who give her the liberty to explore the song of life as long as it doesn’t get completely off track from their culture. But then, they discover culture is not a thing cast in stone. When her retired grandparents (Pankaj Kapur and Himani Shivpuri) come to live with them, the family has to create a picture that suits their value system. If Vinay has to turn his bar into a bookshelf, Binny has to drop the F-word from her rap song.

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This seemingly light-hearted struggle to adjust snowballs into a conflict when a health scare hits the family. It opens up a conversation thread between a grieving grandfather and a guilt-ridden granddaughter. Gradually, as the plot generates the dull pain that follows the thought of what if one was a little more accommodating… eyes begin to well up.

Tripaathy has written some popular TV serials and directed Club 60, a film on five retired men finding a new purpose in life. He understands the space and has sharpened his storytelling skills to create the vibe of a lived-in experience of a household as the film seamlessly captures the multiple lives and languages immigrants live and speak. Without making it sound like a lesson, the film reminds us that the generic feel of respect doesn’t convey the import of lihaj that we have for the values that the elders hold on to. It first dusts off the false accent of modernity that comes from the use of technology and lifestyle, and then tells us that embracing change is not such a bad thing. Tripathy is not keen on scripting scheming villains within the family or outside; he allows the circumstances to play the spoilsport.

Anjini, who comes from the house of Dhawans, makes a confident start. Her screen presence and demeanour make even the poorly-written school portions and Binny’s skirmishes in romance watchable. Her tuning with the seasoned Kapur doesn’t have any false notes.

Meanwhile, the veteran actor makes an entry with an Office Office kind of sequence and gradually changes from a self-sufficient pensioner who refuses change in his conservative mindset to a gram-worthy grandfather reflecting every turn in the emotional makeup of the character through his body language. Rajesh Kumar’s talent is finally being tapped, and as the father conflicted between the interests of his family and parents, he once again delivers an understated performance.

The school segment remains undercooked, Binny’s attempt to use theatre to express herself is exasperatingly predictable, and towards the end, the film does get into lecture mode. Still, if you keep the expectations in check, it is a decent family watch.

Binny And Family is currently running in theatres