Homosexuality is one of the topics not much talked in Hindi Movies. But Hansal Mehta, the director has shown a full courage to portray such subject. Apart from the regular Bollywood Movies, this appears to be extremely different, well directed, and performed. The film claims to be based on the real story of a professor who is a gay and for his sexuality, is suspended from the university. The film deals with his battle to stand against his sexual orientation. The film makes a sharp statement on the issue and gives a brief on the legislation on homosexuality. The dialogues and direction have been very well done. But it's Manoj Bajpayee's performance for which the film is worth a watch. Away from the commercial angle, he puts a life to his character, as a silent professor who's uninterested in what happens around him. Few of his dialogues just put the homosexuals as a class who also want to live their lives as they want and fend for their privacy.
Despite a good performance and good dialogues, the film is not an easy watch. The main reason is its extremely slow pace. The film is not more than a plain narration or a biopic and fails to present an in-depth character study. On the aspect, Oscar nominated "Milk" on a gay right activist was much more memorable as it has a better elaboration and conviction which extremely lacks in "Aligarh." Overall, the specialities of "Aligarh" are its setting and Bajpayi's acting. But the specialities don't outweigh its mediocrity in terms of its slow pace and lack of narrative freshness.
Rating: 2 stars out of 4
Despite a good performance and good dialogues, the film is not an easy watch. The main reason is its extremely slow pace. The film is not more than a plain narration or a biopic and fails to present an in-depth character study. On the aspect, Oscar nominated "Milk" on a gay right activist was much more memorable as it has a better elaboration and conviction which extremely lacks in "Aligarh." Overall, the specialities of "Aligarh" are its setting and Bajpayi's acting. But the specialities don't outweigh its mediocrity in terms of its slow pace and lack of narrative freshness.
Rating: 2 stars out of 4