Directed by : Sooraj R. Barjatya 

Kehte hai ki everest pe har sawaal ka jawaab hai.

Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa and Neena Gupta in 'Uunchai'

Spoilers ahead...


Three close friends - Amit Shrivastava (Amitabh Bachchan), Javed Siddiqui (Boman Irani) and Om Sharma (Anupam Kher) who are all past 60's decide to trek towards the Everest Base Camp because the 4th member of their circle 'Bhupen' (Danny Denzongpa) just recently died and he always wanted to go there. The rest story is all about the physical struggle and also the other secrets each of them learn, as they battle to climb the everest of their day to day life. 

Had a smile on my face for majority of the 1st half, especially the entire car journey from Delhi to Agra to Kanpur to Gorakhpur with all the rest stops mainly food breaks and the conversations between Amit, Javed, Om and Shabina Siddiqui (Neena Gupta), playing wife of Javed. Neena Gupta is such a brilliant actor, that even the dull looking scenes feel so alive with her presence. 

The entire trek training montage felt really useless, because at the completion of 2 months you could say that none of them were fit enough to still go to trek. No, I don't belong to those stereotypical old fashioned people who believe that 60+ people should stay at home, I rather prefer them to be active. The issue here is this training montage shows no improvement in their physical abilities as such so its a total waste of time.  It rather would have worked better if the 2 months was skipped directly to the day they start the trip and a small conversation hints at they haven't done much but are hopeful to reach the Everest Base Camp, that would have been ideal.

The main issue though was the 2nd half and the entire trek sequences. Firstly, Shraddha Gupta (Parineeti Chopra), the trek instructor/guide felt a forced inclusion in terms of the story specially how they show Amit is indirectly linked to her and all her family issues. Rather some other actor who was just to help in the trek with no backstory would have gone nicely. I also didn't understand how they actually create a total mess at the bridge crossing rather than waiting for the rain to stop or atleast slow down. Does it happen in real too, so careless? Bit too much in the name of cinematic liberties!

There's one department where I have no complain and that's the acting (minus Parineeti ofcourse as told above). Amitabh Bachchan and Boman Irani specially give top-notch performances while Anupam Kher provides mostly humor to the narrative effectively as always. I however love the scene where they are sitting on the Ghat and playing song 'yeh jeevan hai, iss jeevan ka', very well directed emotional moment. Sarika Thakur was also a good addition, initially as a mystery woman and later provides more to Bhupen's reason for the love towards Himalayas or that poem he had written. 

Bit sad to see Danny Denzongpa get a very small role, he is yet so lovable. Love it when he in a friendly tone criticises work of Amit telling him that his best book is yet to come. 

The message of standing tall to any difficulty or circumstance life poses at you is well and clear, a tighter 2nd half and better writing would have made it more effective. Its little disappointing because the usual tropes that we see in Sooraj Barjatya movie are at a backseat, rather he uses them as small conflicts and moving ahead without consuming a whole narrative on it, whether its Om's view regarding his brothers related to the handling of Haveli or how Shabina's daughter reacts at her mom's surprise visit when she and her husband have birthday party planned already or how Amit feels guilty for the condition his wife (Nafisa Ali in a cameo) is in. 

The songs while aren't memorable, still feel fresh because we have Amit Trivedi doing music for Sooraj Barjatya for 1st time. 'Keti Ko', 'Haan kar de' and 'Ladki Pahadi' are all decent tracks that work fine with the narrative. 

Overall, Uunchai is definately a positive step for Sooraj Barjatya after that disastrous Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. Good to see him stay in his elements and yet try something different, even if its full of flaws, the heart seems to be in right place making the movie a good watch.

My Rating : 6/10