'All India Rank' movie review: Growing up with Grover

All India RankUA Comedy DramaDir Varun GroverCast Bodhisattva Sharma Samta Sudiksha Sheeba ChaddhaRating 35At the Indian Institute of Technology IIT coaching lecture in this film the teacher asks students whatrsquos common between HC Verma author of a popular physics textbook and Bollywood director Mansoor Khan The answer is both went to IITThe latter for an example would be as true for several of the bestknown alumni from the nationrsquos top engineering collegemdashArvind Kejriwal down to content creators TVFTheir contribution to varied fields from politics to entertainment even businessadministration might outsize anything earthshattering achieved in scienceengineering per seOr maybe thatrsquos just my personal bias talking The teacher delivering the physics IIT lecture is a woman the lovely Sheeba Chaddha which in a sense is reversal of a stereotypeThe film opens with a song that sounds like an ode of sorts to the Nazia Hassan number Boom boom which in turn couldrsquove similarly inspired the Don 2006 track Aaj ki raatThe feel is decidedly rsquo80s pop All India Rank is set in the heart of the rsquo90s which is nostalgiamax for the times wersquore in Its tributes instantly pique popular imagination In the same way that the rsquo60srsquo70s were nostalgia for the rsquo90s The past is inevitably a happier mirageIn fact nostalgia appears to be the very purpose behind this picturemdashrecommitting to memory warmer simpler times when choices were few and so we connected more deeply to things deemed popculturemdashads brands movies TV shows sports starshellipYou patiently spot them all over this movie ideally with a smile on your facemdashSwad candy Sabatini poster Milton water bottle and what looked like Gold Spot in a Limca bottleThe family in the film runs an STD booth a term the GenZ or Gen Alpha might confuse with something to do with a sexually transmitted disease The father in the film works as a subdivisional engineering in the department of telecom Another job sitting pretty in the cupboard of the past Detailing is deliciousWhat else happened in rsquo90s India Liberalisation of the economy of coursemdashopening Indians up to the world of goodies beyond borders firstly The flip side of this the film argues is that it spawned a success industry obsessed with parentschildren vying for a place in the IITsThe gates of which promised startling lsquostarting salariesrsquo hitherto unknown to generations before given more and more private and multinational companies in the marketLet them eatIIT cake said every parentguardianteacher hoping for an assured future for their kids Only about a couple of thousand students could make it through though Hence the equally gruelling sweatshop industry centred on spoonfeeding syllabiAll India Rank is primarily set in the town Kota Rajasthan ldquoCoaching ka Haridwarrdquo Which is where the fine teenaged leads Bodhisattva Sharma Samta Sudiksha in the film go to prepare for IITTIL Kota used to be an industrial township Industries shut down Engineers stayed back They opened coaching institutes You can tell writerdirector Varun Grover is all too familiar with these lives and surroundings Which actually brings me to a larger debate about contentmdashdo you necessarily writefilm what you know or figure more if therersquos anything still left unsaid on a themesubjectSince Rajkumar Hiranirsquos 3 Idiots 2009 arguably the most successful contemporary Indian film abroad itrsquos got fans across China wersquove sort of dealt with this tragedy of the IIT and desi engineering entrance ecosystem in multiple ways alreadyTVFrsquos Kota Factory 2019 rsquo21 was a fine novelty when it debuted on YouTube thereafter on Netflix Biswa Kalyan Rathrsquos underwatched series Laakhon Mein Ek 2017 rsquo19 was an even darker take on the same theme on Prime Video Alma Matters on Netflix is a top docLikewise bigticket Bollywood has had its Hrithik Roshan starrer Super 30 2019 shining a light on the IIT coaching sceneItrsquos impossible to avoid a larger sense of deacutejagrave vu throughout All India Rank Given the film itself isnrsquot as plotdriven as centred on key characters the longish middle sections of the movie could seem middling if you arenrsquot alert to every momentI found myself invested in the lives of the young stillmdashhandpicked to reflect that they belongmdashgrappling with a phase in their lives when external pressures are the most debilitating while theyrsquore at the peak of their hormonal youth discovering so many other things about life that leave them equally confused Lust includedEven academically you could be a topper in your school and merely one among several toppers at a college or coaching institute thereafterIrsquom sure whether IIT aspirants or not wersquove all been through this rite of passage Grover might be addressing a familiar question But it can produce multiple answers since this is art not mathAs a writer Masaan Sacred Games hersquos been an indefatigable disciplined talent calling dibs on multiple pursuits from writing standup comedy popular lyrics commentary to childrenrsquos fictionThis is his directorial debut And evidently a sweet sincere personal film I donrsquot know how much things have changed since the rsquo90sI do know my lirsquol cousinmdashjust as cutely gawky like the wonderfully cast leadactor here Bodhisattvamdashjust joined IIT BHU that Grover is an alumnus of Hersquos gone there hoping to become a standup comedian

'All India Rank' movie review: Growing up with Grover

All India Rank
U/A: Comedy, Drama
Dir: Varun Grover
Cast: Bodhisattva Sharma, Samta Sudiksha, Sheeba Chaddha
Rating 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / 'All India Rank' movie review: Growing up with Grover

'All India Rank' movie review: Growing up with Grover

All India RankU/A: Comedy, DramaDir: Varun GroverCast: Bodhisattva Sharma, Samta Sudiksha, Sheeba ChaddhaRating 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

All India Rank
U/A: Comedy, Drama
Dir: Varun Grover
Cast: Bodhisattva Sharma, Samta Sudiksha, Sheeba Chaddha
Rating 3/5