The bond between a father and son is a landscape of unspoken words, shared silences, and the echoing footsteps of inherited traits. It's a relationship that can be both a source of profound strength and a delicate, often fraught, dance of expectations. The Mehta Boys captures this complex dynamic with a raw, unflinching honesty, which is also perhaps the most striking element of the film.
It explores complexities, unspoken tensions, and silent moments of love and understanding that families knit together, and in doing so, it does not shy away from the messy, sticky realities of family, but instead it stays comfortably away from idealistic portrayals of parenthood or childhood. This genuineness is the strength of The Mehta Boys and hence it feels real, and not even a bit ‘filmy’! I am positive that many fathers and sons must identify with the characters, their struggles, triumphs, and vulnerabilities.
Much before Boman Irani, Bollywood’s beloved powerhouse performer, decided to step behind the camera and deliver this incredibly impactful directorial debut, the endearing yet often complex father-son relationship has been explored a few times before.
From Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, which is a Russian novel that explores the generational clash between fathers and their radical sons in 19th-century Russia, to The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), where Will Smith and his son deliver a heartfelt story about resilience and the sacrifices that a father makes for his child. While in my memory the sweetest story of a dad going to incredible lengths to find his son is Finding Nemo (2003), Bollywood too has explored the push and pull between fathers and sons, and we've seen it all. From the picture-perfect, 'yes-dad' son like Heera Thakur in Sooryavansham, to the son who toes the line but has his own mind, like Shah Rukh Khan in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and even the son who completely breaks free, like Rajat Barmecha in Udaan, these films show just how varied and complicated that relationship can be.
It is believed that a father-son relationship can be tricky because it often involves complex dynamics like differing expectations, generational gaps, communication challenges, and the need to navigate both dependence and independence, making it a relationship that can experience tension and conflict at times. Fathers and sons may have different values, perspectives, and approaches to life due to their age gap, leading to misunderstandings.
Sometimes, they struggle to openly express their emotions, leading to bottled-up feelings and difficulty resolving conflicts. A son might feel pressure to live up to his father's expectations, while a father may struggle to balance being supportive with providing necessary guidance.
Coming back to the film under discussion, The Mehta Boys marks 65-year-old Irani’s debut as a screenwriter and director. The endearing drama about a father-son relationship stars Irani as the septuagenarian Mehta, with Avinash Tiwary (Sikander Ka Muqaddar) who plays his son Amay. Interestingly and sadly, Irani has no personal experience of a relationship with his dad, because his father died six months before he was born.
“I don’t think I would have made this movie the way I wanted at 50,” he says in an interview. “You need to get a little more out of life and experience some frustration too. It took me time to write it, cast it, make it.”
Boman heard about a certain jagged father-son relationship that had a compelling airport moment and roped in co-writer Alexander Dinelaris (of Birdman fame) to explore this edgy relationship between Shiv Mehta and Amay and that leaves a grave impact. That airport moment has been captured in a beautiful scene in the film. Who knew that beneath the charismatic performer we've admired for so long lay a maestro of storytelling? Boman Irani has surprised us all, and in the best possible way.
Things work out in a way that Shiv has to spend two days with his city-slicker son Amay and address the divisions. Shiv is a Gujarati speaking Parsi, set in his own ways like anybody else his age. He loves coaching cricket, his type-writer and his Sunil-Gavaskar-signed bat displayed on the wall in his room. He loves his daughter but his relationship with his son is awkward. He refuses to accept a helping hand and treats son Amay as if he is the neighbour’s son, just with polite civility. He holds on to the hand-break when Amay drives while there is nothing wrong with Amay’s driving, he checks his son’s architectural abilities with a mason, turns off extra lights, and in short doesn’t for some reason offer the validation and love every son needs.
On the other side, Amay feels unvalidated, unloved, and that his father makes fun of his work and lifestyle in Mumbai. Both Irani and Tiwary are at the top of their craft and complement each other throughout the film.
The performances under Irani’s immaculate direction makes this film so relatable. It doesn't matter who you are – parent, kid, somewhere in between – you'll find something that clicks and connects. Your parents have bound to have done something that Shiv does or you may connect and identify with Amay. The Mehta Boys, speaks to those universal family experiences around generational gaps, unspoken expectations, the longing for connection at the heart of every parent-child relationship, how sometimes there are communication difficulties and misunderstandings in families, and how the importance of empathy and forgiveness are forgotten or cast aside.
Without resorting to melodrama or over-sentimentality that films in the subcontinent thrive on, Irani allows emotions to emerge from the story and characters as they organically would from in a realistic situation. Watching these characters, you feel drawn to them and get invested in their journey. As you laugh and cry with them, feel their pain and anxiety, you begin to reflect on the relationships around you. What is rampant and what is amiss? You cannot help but want this father and son to a find common ground and learn to accept each other as whoever they are and carry on living their lives together. Long after the credits roll, you feel that your soul stirred and you remain connected to the Mehta family, wondering how many families had or have or will have similar journeys.
A great fan of Irani’s comedy and acting, I did not expect the direction to be at this super-sensitive level. He has almost mastered this craft too, and this is only his debut. If you like a mix of quirky, eccentric and realistic characters, if you like films that prove that a beautiful film can be made without spending trillions, without using song, dance, item numbers, vulgarity, sensationalism and objectification, this one is for you.
The simple but powerful story about enduring and endearing relationships that is bound to evoke memories of bonds in life, resonating in a deep, meaningful and soulful way. It is visually captivating even though there are no panoramic landscapes, it is mostly shot indoors, but Irani makes sure the frames are engaging throughout the film.
The Mehta Boys reminds us of the power that cinema has to connect us to other human beings and make us reflect on how complex our bonds with people are. At its core, the film is all about that convoluted and complicated dad-son thing, but it shows how easy it is to miss what's really being said, how pride and ego can get in the way, but also how it's never too late to try and understand each other. It's like, sometimes love doesn't look like what you expect. It can be tough, even harsh, but it's still love at the end of the day. The film makes one think about how we need to cherish those family ties, and maybe try to see past the surface, before it's too late. There are many instances in the film where Irani as Shiv, or Tiwari as Amay, share a look, a silence, that demonstrates how just that much can say a lot, especially between a father and son, and how those little things can cause so much trouble if we don't pay attention. Just like the Mehta family members sometimes we struggle to express their emotions openly, we bottle up our feelings or skirmish around them, not realising that at times even small attempts at communication can bridge the gap and lead to healing.
The film that has won the People’s Choice Award for Best Fiction Feature, at the 2024 Chicago South Asian Film Festival, also showcases the acting talent of the famous cricketer Kapil Dev too.
In a world where everything's loud and flashy, The Mehta Boys is like a breath of fresh air. It's quiet, but it hits you deep. It's about those real connections, the ones that matter. It reminds you how beautiful, and fragile, family can be, and how love always finds a way. We need more films like this, films that stay with you.