Raakhee Gulzar shines in Aamar Boss, a moving tale addressing elder care, role reversal, and emotional neglect in urban India. A review by Ruchira, exclusively for Different Truths.
Looks like a few of Bollywood’s heroines from yesteryears are delivering remarkable performances in the twilight years of their lives. After Sharmila Tagore, who gave a scintillating performance in the Bengali flick Puratawn (Ancient), it is the 78-year-old Raakhee Gulzar’s turn to leave an indelible impact on the minds of millions of viewers, and she has efficiently done so in the recently released Aamar Boss in Bengali.
The theme is contemporary and highly relevant for the educated, professional, and affluent population residing in India’s metros and large cities.
India’s ageing population is steadily growing, and as joint families are fast diminishing and lifestyle is picking up a maddening speed, the emotional needs (and more importantly, health care issues as well) of the senior citizens are getting largely overlooked. A pathetic situation indeed!
Aamar Boss, a Windows production and the brainchild of director duo Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee, sheds ample light on the issue through a role reversal – portraying how an ageing mother asserts her independence, not merely as a parent but as a person who wishes to do something constructive and dedicated to social welfare.
The drama unfolds with Shubhra Goswami (Rakhee Gulzar), a widowed, retired nurse with too much time on her hands and hardly anything to do. Her son, Animesh (Shiboprosad Mukherjee), who, busy with his publishing job, tries his utmost to devote quality time to and shower his affection on his surviving parents.
In a desperate bid to overcome boredom and stagnation, Shubhra starts interning at his office. Much to the chagrin of her son, she gets deeply involved in the lives of the company’s staffers. Incidentally, her late husband, who founded the company, made her a stakeholder. Incidentally, her late husband, who founded the company, made her a stakeholder. She delves into the private lives of the employees and convinces her son to improve their condition. Her sympathetic attitude garners popularity, and the office girls simply begin to adore her, addressing her as ‘Maa’.
Sensing that many employees are unable to balance between looking after their elderly parents properly and performing efficiently in the office, she hits upon a novel idea: starting a daycare centre to empower such senior citizens. The outcome is a mixed bag, reflecting both conflict due to revolt and a small amount of appreciation.
Following a humongous number of teething problems, roadblocks and hiccups, she succeeds in fulfilling her objective!
Aamar Boss is an eye-opener, driving home the fact that caregiving is not just about comfort but also about respect, attention, care, and space.
On another plane level, I feel Aamar Boss presents a somewhat utopian idea. In an overpopulated country like ours, where the urban population are racing to accumulate wealth and enhance their savings and investments to ensure a secure future for themselves and their progeny, it seems highly unlikely that many adult children would find it feasible to send their aged parents to daycare centres. Like it or not, but dumping parents at old-age homes permanently, followed by occasional visits, is one thing, and entrusting them to daycare centres – for a fee, of course – is quite another.
Picture from IMDb
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