Lootera – the last leaf

1. Lootera is a 2013 Hindi movie directed by Vikramaditya Motwane that talks about an unusual love story between a thief and a rich young girl.
2. Set in the 1950s, Roy Chaudhary (Barun Chanda), a rich landlord lives with his young daughter Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha), a TB patient. One day, a young man Varun (Ranveer Singh) comes to the house to do his archaeological survey. Roy allows him and his partner Dev (Vikrant Massey) to live in their mansion. Pakhi and Varun slowly fall in love. Meanwhile, the Indian government brings in the Zamindari Abolishment Act which will take away a major portion of the land from the rich landlords and this worries Roy. Varun helps Roy in selling his artefacts before the government takes them all away. Varun finally seeks permission from Roy to marry Pakhi and it is agreed upon. But suddenly Varun’s uncle Bajpai comes to the mansion as the dealer to buy the artefacts and he persuades Varun to not marry as his profession of robbery is not meant for that. The next day Varun and Dev silently leave the mansion stealing a historical idol. Roy feels betrayed and he dies. A year later, Pakhi is residing all alone with a maid in her Dalhousie home. Varun and Dev unintentionally come here for their next robbery and stay at Pakhi’s house without any knowledge about her. The cops get to know the robbery plan and they chase both on the streets. Varun shoots and kills Dev by mistake and in the process gets hurt. He goes to Pakhi and threatens her to hide him for a few days. After seeing her health condition for a few days, he refuses to leave and starts taking care of her. He paints a leaf daily and ties it to the tree as Pakhi sees hope in that. On seeing that Pakhi’s condition is getting better, he leaves the house and gets killed by the cops. Pakhi looks at the artificial leaf and smiles.
3. The music by Amit Trivedi is just mind-blowing and is the core part of the movie. Without these songs, the movie would not have been that good. The lyrics are so meaningful and seem just like the dialogues that need to be said.
4. The acting by the cast was good and the story just outstands everything. It is not just another romantic story and is inspired by O.Henry’s The Last Leaf. It is the dilemma of whether to go for the present feelings or be buried in the past.
5. Before India got independence, the rich landlords had vast areas of land and with Zamindari Abolishment Act, the government did a fair thing by distributing the lands equally among the less-privileged section.
6. Don’t judge a book by its cover is a universal fact. Good looks may misguide your judgements and thus your fortunes too. The scamsters are just excellent marketing persons with attractive looks.
7. The power of romance is too strong, otherwise, why would a girl save a guy who directly or indirectly led to her father’s death. Or maybe it depends on the present conditions and the human psychology that is pulled towards the feeling of care.
8. The timing of the movie, that is the 1950s era, its props, its background and everything just made the movie so realistic and culturally rich. The Bengal touch also played a great role, a state that is rich in Indian cultures and once a favourite of the Britishers.
9. A critically acclaimed movie that did very well at the box office too.
10. A many-time watch and I say it’s VERY GOOD.