It was a humid Sunday morning and we woke up to the sound of drizzling rain followed by clear skies and bright sun. Nature changed its course within a few seconds and that was sign enough to start the day. 

We had celebrated a friend’s birthday the night before and were all kinds of tired and hungover. We had a quick bath to wash off the sound of Bollywood songs and the clutter of every “cheers” we did with our multiple drinks the night before. 

We needed a big breakfast and I instantly knew we had to make an omelette. I whipped up some eggs, added the usual – onions, tomatoes, green chilies, coriander and managed a basic masala omelette. I had no patience to toast the bread so I just sandwiched the omelette between two slices of bread. My husband ordered coffee for us and started flipping through Mubi for our next watch. 

The night before was loud, flashy and fun and therefore, we needed a quiet and slow watch today. My husband found the perfect movie for this – “Pestonjee”. This film released in the late 80s stars Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher in leading roles. Shabana Azmi and Kirron Kher play supporting roles. The cast as it is was enough to get us excited and something about the title and the description was really calling out to us. 

We sat with our Eeda Toast and coffee for the film. The opening scene is an old Parsi Naseer walking at Nariman Point wearing Khakhi shorts, white shirt and a cap that is pretty much a non-Parsi’s way of identifying one. All he keeps thinking about is how he can ignore his friend, Anupam Kher – another Parsi man. Their friendship has strained over the years and yet they cannot stop thinking about each other.

The movie cuts to a flashback when the two men fall in love with the same girl, Shabana, a Parsi who shifted to Bombay from Aden. She is impeccably dressed in western wear, hair and makeup on point with westernised mannerisms and a hobby for playing the piano. 

Naseer is a low key, principled man. He is in no hurry to get married and although he is attracted to Shabana, his dilly-dallying leads to Anupam Kher asking for Shabana’s hand in marriage. The two eventually get married although there’s hardly a conflict between Naseer and Anupam over who won the girl. 

The story then pretty much revolves around the donwhill of the couples marriage and Naseer’s birds-eye view of it. An abortion, extra marital affair and the responsibility of ailing parents are all reasons for its doom. I pretty much thought that the main reason for the unsuccessful marriage was lack of love. The film explains how Shabana agreed to the marriage proposal to forget her past and that it was never for love. The film portrays how this woman is entrapped in familial responsibilities when she probably never wanted any of it. 

A lonely Naseer who never considers getting married, stays away from Mumbai for his job, is yet, invested in this relationship and is often commenting and almost judging his friend’s marriage. There’s a scene where Anupam asks Naseer to leave him alone and hints that Naseer has to stop judging other people’s lives. That no one is in fact perfect and Naseer should be grateful that he lives a decent happy life. 

The entire film is shot in and around Fort area in Mumbai where most Parsis are known to live. With every old movie I watch, my love for the old city only increases. It was quieter yet busy and beautiful in its own way. The streets are surrounded by stone structures and British architecture, a reminder that if not anything, the British ensured architectural beauty. Some of the scenes were shot near Bombay High Court on the same streets that I walk on all day. 

The film is almost fully based around the age old Ripon Club – a classic Parsi club situated in the Wadia Building. My husband’s previous office was in this building and he tells me that Ripon Club is still up and running. He has fond memories of packing a sandwich on the go from Ripon during his busy Court days. He claims their sandwiches to be the best in town. He got so nostalgic watching the film that we are making a trip to Ripon Club for the sandwiches next week. 

The film depicts Parsi culture like no other. One could watch wedding festivities on screen that are other than the usual big fat Punjabi weddings. This trope has now been tirelessly repeated in Hindi films. Another Punjabi wedding song – exhausting. A Parsi couple dressed beautifully in a Dagli and Gara – refreshing! Their language, although Gujrati, has so many words that I’ve heard in Marathi like “santaap”, “pushkal”. I wonder if the Parsis caught on to these words from Marathi or vice versa, but the two languages merging so seamlessly feels special. Other than the casual use of words like “Dikra”, the cap on the head, and an eccentric old man whose character is only to provide comic relief, I don’t recall seeing such meticulous effort at portraying the Parsi community on screen.

The cast of the film is the best of the lot however it is so special to watch Naseer on screen – such nuanced acting. Smallest of his hand gestures don’t even lose character until the last scene of the film. What an actor, truly. 

Subscribe to MUBI just for this film and your subscription will be worth the money and effort. Think of how much money we spend on a movie ticket and a tub of popcorn to watch sequels after sequels of the Avengers – this is way cheaper and way more fun!

– Aishwarya Bedekar