The Last Lear

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Shefali Shah, Divya Dutta, Jisshu Sengupta

Director: Rituparno Ghosh

Producer: Planman Motion Pictures

Release date: September 12, 2008

Harry – 65. Recluse, eccentric, passionate. Besides being a Shakespearean stage actor and an ardent fan of The Master, his life seems like a play after he meets Siddharth. A play replete with action, drama, love, emotions, tension – and an expected friendship.

Siddharth is a new-age film director – his cool clothes and casual persona well disguise his eccentricities. He is a visionary, a visionary who would stop at nothing to get what he wants. As opposites attract, may be likeminded people get along well too. How else would one explain the fast blossoming friendship between these two eccentrically creative minds?

When the cinema-ignorant Harry is offered a magnificent role in Siddharths’ next film, he is apprehensive at first, reluctant later and finally acceptable to the idea.

As the shoot takes them to the sprawling mountainous landscapes of India, new relationships bloom. Upcoming actor Shabnam, who is struggling hard to cope with her messy personal life, finds an unexpected mentor in Harry. He teaches her more than merely the nuances of acting.

From being a complete outsider to the world of commercial cinema, Harry soon becomes one of them – open to learning new methods of working, chatting with the unit members and sipping tea from a fancy thermos he never knew was invented, he is enjoying!

Little does he know that as the film rolls and he gets into the skin of the character of the Joker that he is playing, he may be taking his role a bit too seriously. Is he that good an actor, or is fate really making him out to be a Joker on the set?

As the intense moments unfold, which are even more engaging that the film itself, masks would be taken off a few faces. Towards the sunset of his life, long after the last shot is taken, as his memory fades, all that Harry can remember are his Masterss words:

“I am doubtful as I am mainly ignorant,
What place is this, And the skill I have
Remembers not these garments, nor I know not
Where did I lodge last night,
Do not laugh at me…”