The kid (Aakshath Das) shines in Serious Men, a social drama that reminded me of Malayalam comedy Salt Mango Tree (2015), and which is more about the stress that children feel at the hands of their ambitious and competitive guardians and less about class divide despite the montages that show otherwise. Here, the kid's father (Nawazuddin SIddiqui),hailing from a backward caste and having an antagonistic view of the world, uses the caste card and his child to aim for the stars, garnering applause and hollow fame on the way. But for what? Serious Men goes on to throw social commentary at you on how the rich and the influential act as parasites on the downtrodden with ample amounts of quirky humour and useless fillers. But, notably, it also gives you a peek into the ill effects of over ambition, giving a spine-tingling climax to an otherwise humdrum proceedings. Siddiqui, Indira Tiwari, and Nasser are all well-directed by Sudhir Mishra, who has finally had a good comeback since Yeh Saali Zindagi (2011). If you are not ready to accept what Serious Men tells, and not preaches, you, this will be a fine afternoon affair. A better watch to parents with young kids. TN

SERIOUS MEN (2020) : Movie Review -

Netflix hasn't been favourite choice of quality lovers because mostly or almost every time they came up with average product despite talented cast and promising previews. Serious Men adds another paper foil in the dustbin of Netflix which can be read once if you have too much time and got nothing else to watch. The script offers something outstanding which could have became a nationwide sensation but did not end so.

The story follows Ayyan Mani (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) a middle-aged Dalit working as an assistant to a Brahmin astronomer Dr. Acharya (Nassar) who is rude to him at the National Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. He lives in slum with his wife Oja (Indira Tiwari) and a son Adi (Akshath Das). Furious at his situation in life about not getting equal chances due to low cast ignorance from high class people, Ayyan develops an outrageous story that his 10-year-old son is a science genius - a lie which later gets out of control.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Aaryan is brilliant and there is nothing you can hate about his acting in the film. Indira Tiwari as his wife gives a natural and matured performance and Aakshath's dialogue delivery is incredible. Nassar as Dr. Acharya doesn't impress much which is shocking while Sanjay Narvekar in small role comes out as a big surprise. Shweta Basu Prasad's look is one of the finest work of make up artist recently as she looks like a real thing from the society and more than her beauty they focused more on her presentation as that smart girl with physical damages.

The film begins and takes charge on a solid note with massive turning hold dialogues and fun factors. Then it goes on to find intellectual part to blow our minds that at one moment or for an half an hour to be more precise the film looks something outstanding and never seen before stuff. But while moving towards the climax it doesn't find proper answers to it's own intelligent theory and hurries up to the typical dumb ending. Screenplay is engaging, literally no dull moments except for one or two in the 2nd half. Overall narrative is entertaining and interesting even though it failed to make sense in the the climax. Dialogues are fantastic and Nawazuddin's dialogue delivery makes it even more funnier. Vulgarity and abusive Language are definitely 2 big issues here because the film has a child Artist in pivotal role and the Child audience cannot watch this semi adult drama.

Sudhir Mishra is a genius director i must say and even in Serious Men he kept the tag alive for most of the runtime. He tried to put up so many things in one narrative such as Middle Class Man's life, his struggle, low caste issues, educational frauds, political conspiracy, a child's mentality and all this so humanly that it seemed impossible to have all these things together. Even after all this so good looking show where did he missed it? It lies in the climax. The film intends to be a sensational and intelligent stuff but it hardly tries to keep it's own words in the end. Its just another undone show by Netflix. In short, "Primitive Film, i could't deal with it." They tried to sell a fraud under the cover of Intelligent theory and Cast grade system but didn't get it right.

RATING - 5/10*

"Serious Men" shrewdly displays deeply engraved issues within our society via thought provoking dialogues & humour. With unadulterated subtlety; it sheds light on Cast Prejudices, Societal Acceptance and the concernment of Responsible Parenthood!



Sudhir Mishra's astonishing direction being the backbone here with eminently written dialogues and an evident display in visual mastery apace with a sublime soundscore, that fits accordingly. Disseminating through innate nuances, the director holds a mirror to our society as well as to us; as insatiable & infatuated human beings. About the lengths we would shamelessly go for our everlasting persuasion of betterment.

The same conveyed through this individual called, Ayyan Mani; impeccably played by Nawazuddin. A stubborn father so obsessed with his ulterior motives for his offspring, that he forgot the foremost responsibility he had of becoming a supportive, empathetic parent to his only son. A lesser presence by comparison yet Indira Tiwari as Oja; A strong maternal figure impresses. Akshath Das as Adi, simply stunning. The way he handled himself infront of such veterans in the game is quite awe-inspiring.

Not only the performances, the effulgent writing communicates deep-seated issues dwelling in our country that everyone is aware of yet we choose to keep reticence. Loopholes in our education system, ever present class differences, few obsessive set of parents who only care about the marks their children are getting. Ignoring the feeble child psychology; inevitably triggering lifelong mental health issues, that starts from a very young age.

It would take few more paragraphs to describe what I gathered from this brilliant piece of work. Hence I must conclude. Before I do so, there's unfortunately one negative left to mention. It's the last act and its unforeseen failure to wrap up everything in the end. The climax felt rushed & less concerned with the emotions. Contrary to what I had in my mind.