102 Not Out Review

Amitabh Bachchan & Rishi Kapoor starrer 102 Not Out released last week. The trailer & Amitabh’s acting in particular impressed many. But is the book as good as its cover? Read our review to find out!

Amitabh Bachchan & Rishi Kapoor have starred in several iconic films together. Some were huge hits while others flopped. Rishi Kapoor even dedicated several pages in his autobiography Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored to his thoughts & his equation with the megastar. While they have an age difference of 10 years in real life, they play father & son in the movie. The movie starts off with the 102 year old father(Amitabh Bachchan) telling his son Babulal Vakharia(Rishi Kapoor) that he intends to live for another 16 years & beat a chinese man’s record of being the oldest man alive. The father-son duo are as different as chalk & cheese.

The 102 year old father is full of life & as the voice says has a mental age of 26(just love it when he says Yo!). The 70+ year old son on the other hand is a typical “buddha”. The son has a monotonous lifestyle & perennially grumpy. The father serves the son an ultimatum that unless he doesn’t do as told, he will pack him off to an old age home!

One does get a feeling that the two stars are apt for their roles. Amitabh is known for his zest for life at 76, while Rishi Kapoor is known to be not the most pleasant man around. Both the stars are seasoned actors & both play their roles with ease. Amitabh’s comic timing is pot on. Special mention needs to be given to the person in charge of makeup & prosthetics – Preetisheel Singh. Jimit Trivedi as Dhiru is good. Umesh Shukla has a good record of adapting hit Gujarati plays to the big screen & he does a good job this time around as well. The script & screenplay manages to hold your attention.

The film is not for masala movie lovers. Fans of action & romance genre should stay away from the movie. It doesn’t boast of hit songs. It doesn’t have a heroine or an item number & no action scenes to speak of. It is an emotional drama laced with dollops of humor. The music is doesn’t stay with you for long.The story does get predictable & cliched in the second half, but it is forgivable.

But the movie is a treat for lovers of the drama genre. It is a bit preachy, but does have a good story to tell. Watch it for Amitabh & Rishi’s chemistry!

Our Rating: (4 / 5)