# Film: RUKHSAT **Directed by:** Simi Garewal **Produced by:** Philip Cherian **Starring:** Mithun Chakraborty Anuradha Patel Amrish Puri Pradeep Kumar Rohini Hattangadi **Music by:** Kalyanji-Anandji **Rating:** ⭐⭐⭐⭐ **Performance:** ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ **Review writer:** Dr Usman Latif Khawaja ## **For Whom the Bell Tolls** The debut by Simi Garewal as writer-director is a showcase for Mithun’s talent as a cold, mercenary contract killer who is on the verge of spiritual death but finds salvation in the form of platonic love, which redeems him and the movie of its flaws as well. The brilliant director takes the impossible themes of underage premarital pregnancy and the savage world of contract killing and turns them into a humane tale of spiritual love. The movie stands out from the crowd of average Bollywood thrillers by its conception of a botched love affair which creates a monster out of a decent youth because of social injustice. Yet, even after his numerous offences and cold-blooded murders, he manages to find his spiritual soul, secondary to an enchanting twist in the meticulously written script by Simi, which is only flawed by a mediocre soundtrack by Kalyanji Anandji and some mixed action sequences which border from good to bad by Devgan. Yet Simi and Mithun bring a raw vitality to the story of a man who is trying to salvage the remnants of his soul, and Mithun is intensely irresistible, first as the mercenary killer and then as the repentant lover who will stop at nothing to protect the ones he loves. The paternal love of a man has never been so beautifully captured as by Mithun’s silent love for his daughter, who believes him to be her best friend. The rest of the cast are good too, mainly Mark Zuber as the intended victim, as well as Anuradha as the ex-lover, who performs with a quiet dignity in her debut role. But I wish the extremely talented Amrish Puri could have done better than the stereotyped villain he turns out to be in the end. Although he performs well initially, his role in the later part borders on caricature, which diminishes the movie as a whole. The title justifies its meaning of departure in more than one way by saying farewell to the stylised gangsters of Indian cinema, and the unconventional finale, where the title vividly springs to life in a great tragic moment, is particularly effective. Though it could have been a classic if more attention had been given to the production design, action sequences and the music, as it is, it’s enough to redeem this movie of its flaws, mainly because of a bravura performance by Mithun, where his evolution from a good to an evil man, and then from the clutches of darkness to the salvation of truth, saves the soul of this intense love story. It also works as an effective thriller and is a laudable effort by a debutante female director. Though one wishes Simi could have defined some of the other characters in as credible a manner as Mithun’s contract killer, it is easy to be charmed by Mithun’s spontaneous energy and raw talent and forget the others. For that very reason, I believe Simi can be forgiven the few obvious flaws in this admirable effort.