‘Serious Men’ First Look : A Promising Adaptation of a Popular Novel
‘Serious Men’ is a film based on Manu Joseph’s novel of the same name. This film-adaptation is scheduled to be released on Netflix on October 2nd. The trailer presents an outline of the film, introducing us to the characters Ayyan Mani (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), his wife Oja (Indira Tiwari) and his son Adi Mani (Akshath Das).
The trailer :
Ayyan Mani narrates how it takes four generations to achieve a better quality of life- and how the work becomes easier and less strenuous with each generation, and ultimately non-existent.
He further narrates how despite being educated and employed, he is shunned by his bosses, whom he calls ‘Serious Men’. (I wonder if Manu Jospeh wanted to call them Blackberry Boys, but anyway). It is hinted he wants his son to become a serious man, a man who is taken seriously.
When his son shows exceptional intelligence in school, he is marked prodigious and becomes a sensation. His fame gets a push, and Ayyan decides to scheme and use the push to the benefit of his family. And to maintain this fame, he lies. It is heavily implied that his fraud is almost exposed, and he keeps going down the rabbit hole.
The book, and expectations :
I am highly interested in knowing how the story, re-told by director Sudhir Mishra, plays out on Netflix.
While I was reading the novel, I did not like it at all. Its dull. Elements of the book are rather annoying. Caste-stigma is presented in a very over-simplified way by a clueless convert, there is unnecessary sexualization which adds nothing and a lot more, which is out of the scope of this review. (No Spoilers At All!)
The good points about the book were descriptions of areas of Mumbai, and small bursts of humor. So I do expect this one to be funny at the least. The trailer does promise more punches in the film. The father tells the son that Barack Obama follows him. Curiously, he asks his father if Shahrukh Khan follows his Instagram, to which he replies ‘aukaat mein reh’ (stay in your limits). He couldn’t bring himself to lie about that!
Conclusion :
From the trailer it looks like it is a one-man show about Nawazuddin Siddiqui. But I really hope other characters get to shine, especially Indira Tiwari in the role of Oja Mani. Please share your thoughts about ‘Serious Men’ in the comments.
