Dinesh Kamath's article on film 'Club 60 is a film worth watching' that was published in Newsband

Club 60 is a film worth watching

By Dinesh Kamath

Club 60 is a beautiful story that connects with everyone - whatever may be your age. Director Sanjay Tripathi has done a great job. The movie teaches you how to deal with a tragic loss. The film tells you as to what is a better thing to do rather than keep grieving for the loss of a loved one.

Club 60 is about embracing life, post 60. Dr Tarique (Farooque Sheikh) and Dr Sayra (Sarika) are a couple living in Pune who have lost their 20-year-old son to a mindless act of terror in Denver, USA. Shattered, they sell off their clinic they had set up over many years and move to Mumbai in order to forget their grief. But the memories don't really leave them. Dr Tarique feels so much depressed that at one stage he even tries to commit suicide. But his wife, Sayra, who is also grieving somwhow manages to save him.

Things change for the couple when Mannu bhai (Raghuvir Yadav) makes an appearance. Mannu bhai gives them a brochure and a membership form to join Club 60. In this club, Dr Tarique is introduced to Dhillon (Sharat Saxena), Jaffar Bhai (Tinnu Anand), Mansukhani (Satish Kaushik) and Sinha (Vineet Kumar). All these persons are found to be battling some tragedy or the other. In Mannu they see an outlet to forget their sorrow.

Farooque Sheikh and Sarika as the couple have given splendid performances. Between the two Sarika is shown as a stronger character since she is able to bring Farooque to normal whenever he is unable to bear the grief although she personally is also grieving.

Raghuvir Yadav is shown as a humorous and talkative character who makes the atmosphere very lively.

The film depicts many interesting scenes like when Sharath Saxena is in a pub or in a hotel room, the song at the wedding anniversary of a friend, Harsh Chhaya as a psychiatrist and so on.

The film talks about those people whom you see regularly and who you feel have no problem. But they are people who do have a lot of problems but externally they appear to be cool and calm as if they have no problem.

Club 60 is that modern day rarity that brings the soul back to our cinema. It is a story of aging and despair dappled by dashes of warmth and humour. The film has a lot of love and warmth to give. The movie depicts as to how the mortality can be very hurtful and how it should be tackled.

Bereavement, in this case the loss of a child, has been done to ever lasting brilliancy by Mahesh Bhatt in Saaransh. The actors in that film were Anupam Kher and Rohini Hattangadi. In  Club 60, the debutant director Tripathi has looked at the broken lives of the characters with tender care and minutely. There is a remarkable restraint in the depths of the anguish of the aged characters, especially epitomized by Sarika. She has played wonderfully a wife who must submerge her own grief at her only son's loss in the face of her husband's monstrous depression.

Farooque as a grieving father displays the melancholy and maudlin with majestic grace. Raghubir Yadav as a loutish resident wearing tee-shirts meant for 12-year olds, Tinu Anand as the shayar who sings and farts with equal intensity, Sharad Saxena as the horny guy who gets cleaned out by a hefty hooker (Mona Wasu), and especially Satish Shah as an ostensibly miserly tycoon have wonderfully supported the main actors of the film.

Tripathi has gone into the depth of emotions of the characters. He has handled the climax wonderfully.

This movie narrates a story of hope for the hopeless. It depicts love, loss, life, a lingering sense of playful yet pensive nostalgia The film has melodious music.

Club 60 has shades of film Anand in which Rajesh Khanna had played the role of a patient suffering from terminal illness. The emotions are somwhat the same.

In Club 60, Sheikh and Sarika are the true picture of control and brilliant acting as they confront each other over how each lives with their loss.

The members of Club 60 don't appear to be men under siege as they leer at anything female, pass lewd comments, share really bad jokes. The script relies more on the day to day life of its characters.

In this film, emotions rule over the plot. But the director never allows them to overwhelm the characters. There is a remarkable restraint in the depths of the anguish of the aged characters.

Club 60 is that modern-day rarity that brings the heart back to our cinema. It has a humane appeal. The film has so much love and warmth to give it breaks your heart to think that mortality could be so hurtful. But that's life.