I have already watched this film three times from when the DVD was brought home. My favorite on screen couple of Farooque Sheikh and Deepti Naval have outdone themselves again! Swara Bhaskar plays her part so well, you want to slap her right across the face, almost willing Deepti Naval to do it for you and yet, when she finally breaks down in front of her mother - you can feel the tears start to prick too.
What a lovely lovely film this is! I also hate it for making me so homesick right now that I want to jump onto the next flight to Delhi and stay there forever. All of my favorite hangouts are used in big bright technicolor in Listen Amaya and brings along with it a flood of happy memories. Golf links, Khan Market, Old Delhi, Chanakya Puri, uffff.
If there is also one thing that I now want to do in my life, it is to run a coffee shop like Leela's and if I can, I want to name it book a coffee as well! :) Its the sort of place where I could spend days on end, not having to leave, being immersed in the books and making friends along the way. Idyllic life no? Jayant is such a gorgeous man, even with all of his wrinkles and chubbiness. He reminds me so much of dad, that I actually called him soon after watching the film, just to tell him that he means to world to me. Sentimental foolishness maybe, but so what?
Listen Amaya almost takes you back in time, to an era where decency and kindness were normal. A space where people cared for what happened around them and their families, being aware of their actions and the results it would have on people that make a difference to them. It's such a beautifully told story that I found myself crying every so often that at one point a friend watching it with me was ready to hit me!
The way Leela, Jayant and Amaya all overcome their inhibitions and reservations about what is actually a beautiful love story, will make a lot of people choke. The way the film ends, aptly encircles the way the film started; a daughter who loves her mother, but doesn't have the time to listen to her, to a daughter who loves her mother intensely and realizes that she needs to make that time very often.
Beautifully done as a story and film. It made my day a couple of times over.
