The Last Lear

ARINDAM CHAUDHURI Presents
A PLANMAN MOTION PICTURES Production
THE LAST LEAR
Director Rituparno Ghosh
Cast Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal
Shefali Shah, Divya Dutta, Jisshu Sengupta
Executive Producer Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee

Amitabh Bachchan’s most awaited film, Planman Motion Pictures’ The Last Lear, is releasing on September 12. The film is directed by the multiple-award winning Rituparno Ghosh and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Shefali Shah and Divya Dutta.

Harry – 65. Recluse, Eccentric. Passionate. Besides being a Shakespearean stage actor and an ardent fan of The Master, his life seems like a play after he meets Siddharth. A play replete with action, drama, love, emotions, tension – and an expected friendship. Siddharth is a new-age film director – his cool clothes and casual persona well disguise his eccentricities. He is a visionary, a visionary who would stop at nothing to get what he wants. As opposites attract, may be likeminded people get along well too. How else would one explain the fast blossoming friendship between these two eccentrically creative minds? When the cinema-ignorant Harry is offered a magnificent role in Siddharths’ next film, he is apprehensive at first, reluctant later and finally acceptable to the idea.

As the shoot takes them to the sprawling mountainous landscapes of India, new relationships bloom. Upcoming actor Shabnam, who is struggling hard to cope with her messy personal life, finds an unexpected mentor in Harry. He teaches her more than merely the nuances of acting.
From being a complete outsider to the world of commercial cinema, Harry soon becomes one of them – open to learning new methods of working, chatting with the unit members and sipping tea from a fancy thermos he never knew was invented, he is enjoying!

Little does he know that as the film rolls and he gets into the skin of the character of the Joker that he is playing, he may be taking his role a bit too seriously. Is he that good an actor, or is Fate really making him out to be a Joker on the set? As the intense moments unfold, which are even more engaging that the film itself, masks would be taken off a few faces. Towards the sunset of his life, long after the last shot is taken, as his memory fades, all that Harry can remember are his Masters words…

“..I am doubtful as I am mainly ignorant,
What place is this, And the skill I have
Remembers not these garments, nor I know not
Where did I lodge last night,
Do not laugh at me…”

The film has already been screened at 4 of the world’s best film festivals, including Toronto, Rome, London and Rotterdam. The response there was astounding, with long standing ovations after all the screenings. International critics and few Indian film personalities who have seen the film, unanimously, have only one thing to say – that this is Bachchan’s best film ever. Quite a compliment this is, for a man who is the greatest living legend in Indian cinema. Amitabh Bachchan plays an actor, for the very first time in his long professional life, in The Last Lear.

It’s amazing how the biggest superstar of Indian films has never played an actor in his almost 4-decades long career. Now, this should be fun! In the trailer, Amitabh Bachchan can be seen effortlessly chanting away powerful dialogues in that voice that can shake mountains. With his long, flowing robes and a white mane, Bachchan surely enthralls. If the promise of excitement and hat ke entertainment in the promo is anything to go by, then this is going to be one rocking film!

Says a viewer, “I saw the trailer in the interval of Singh is Kinng. It caught me completely by surprise! Amitabh is looking so smashing in his long white hair and Preity looks gorgeous in a sari. I have never seen her like this before. It looks like an interesting film. I am waiting for it to release!”