Shastry Viruddh Shastry

Shastry vs Shastry has completely won my heart. What a magnificent film on such a difficult subject where parents and grandparents stake claims on a child and the latter, bound by love, doesn't know what he really wants. The child actor Kabir Pahwa is a revelation in himself and is believable when he's clinging onto his grandfather's shirt or observing his parents at the dinner table. Despite being small, he came across as a very good actor. Being a big fan of Paresh Rawal, I truly felt this film adds a lot to his already-beautiful filmography. What a heart-warming performance as a grandfather, who is strict to his own son, but can move mountains for his grandchild. The film delves into a middle-class home and brings out many a wonderful moment. I was particularly moved by the mother's dilemma. Played gracefully by Bengali actor Mimi Chakraborty, the character embodies modern-day motherhood.

What started as a great, relatable family drama, turned out to be a farce towards the end of the film by the filmmakers. The film showed the grandfather to be a manipulative man, who harmed and killed his first son, turned the second son into a sissy who could not stand upto his father and then kidnapped his grandchild to alleviate his own guilt at age 70 and fulfil his empty life and sadness. The filmmakers did a disservice to the child yaman by having the kidnapped child choose between his own parents and the grandparents, and end the film by having the child be in the company of the manipulative grandfather. You di not send a child to a criminal. Period. Its totally unfair fir a child to be used as a replacement.

Don't know who is writing such dumb stories. Old grand parents don't want their own children to come home but somehow becomes decision maker to keep grand children. Things don't add up. Smaller things are portrayed parents in bad light. The arrangements are not rational or logical.

In reality the parents are supposed to be decision maker to see what they eat where they go to school etc. But the roles are flipped without any logical explanation. The grand parents are so selfish to keep grand children in village and keep opportunities away from small kid. All kids working in USA portrayed as greedy, no explanation given why?

There are many an instance where the court has granted custody of a minor to grandparents over parents and this possibility, in a nutshell, sums up the premise of Shastry Virudhh Shastry on Netflix. Though I believe there's no replacement for parents' love, here the inability of the parents to take full control of their lives comes with a dollop of logic. That's where Bengali directors Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy score. Amidst a bunch of mindless, logicless stories, this film shines like pure diamond. It's quick to create the modern way of living on reel and sucks you into the problems that come with it. I don't blame the set of parents at all as I know the stressful lives we lead nowadays, but I don't see any problem in the grandparents too wanting to stay with their grandson. We have to understand that everyone has a role to play in bringing up a child. And ultimately, he should not feel deprived.

While it may not touch on the highs of a family drama with comparable themes, the story does a pretty good job of putting forth the basic principles of two different ideologies-the conservative and progressive-in the most sincere way possible.

The most impressive thing is that the writing does not take any particular side, nor does it show bias or tend to project partiality; it criticizes both, judging them on equal grounds.

However, the drama lacks the punch and efficiency of such narratives, and as a result, the fruits it bears in the end leave a half-baked, inutile impression.

A tighter, more productive screenwriting could have fixed this issue.