Club 60

This is a beautiful movie and I agree such movies are rarely made. This is a film where the audience connects with the script throughout and celebrates it in all possible ways. The Late Farooque Shaikh, Sarika, Raghuvir Tadav, Vineet Kumar, Satish Shah, Tinnu Anand are just brilliant, as if, it was really their own story. The casting has been top notch and each one of the lot took out their best. Although, I would say Sharat Saxena has not done complete justice playing G.S. Dhillon. Else, the movie is just awesome. I loved "Beer Baba" in the movie. Me and my wife have seen this movie multiple times and it still seems new to us every time we watch it.

This movie is surely for ages and I wish Bollywood should care to make such movies in the future as well.

"Club 60" deals with the stories of aged pals who become part of the club named Club 60, where they share their joys and sorrows they have gone through their lives. The film centers around Farooq Shiekh who has immersed himself into depression after the loss of his only son. He relives his life once he becomes part of the Club 60 and realizes he is not the only one who has had a loss in life. The way the film narrates the loss almost every character have undergone by their 60s makes this film true to life.

On the whole the film is pretty slow but through its occasional wit the film succeeds to fully bring its theme and encourages the old people to live their life to the fullest. Though the pace of the film I've mentioned before is slow, there are also surprises with which each character's past agony is shown. Besides, the performances from the lead are also to be watched out for. Especially, Raghuvir Yadav's role besides Farooq Shiekh and Sarika's performances are what you would remember the film for. For the theme, the film is quite remarkable, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a good film.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4

'Club 60' is an honest & affecting drama, about grief & the battles life puts us all in. Sanjay Tripathy directs this underrated film earnestly & gets a top-notch cast, who deliver strongly.

'Club 60' Synopsis: After the untimely death of their only son Iqbal, Neurosurgeon, Dr Tariq Sheikh (Farooq Sheikh) and his wife Dr Saira (Sarika) are unable to put the pieces of their broken life together. Tariq suffers from depression, while Saira struggles to cope with her husband's suicidal tendencies. In an attempt to make a fresh start in life and to get rid of the nothingness' that haunts them, they shift to Mumbai from Pune. More than the city's distractions, it's their loud neighbor Manubhai (Raghubir Yadav), who manages to kill the deafening silence that plagues them with his somewhat annoying yet adorable antics. Manubhai introduces Tariq to the jovial members of Club 60 - where live begins at 60.

'Club 60' mirrors life with honesty. Its a sad story, yet it never forgets to be uplifting by the time the film ends. Its an affecting story about people dealing with the circumstances of life & how sometimes grief can never leave you alone. This isn't a perfect film by any shot, but it at least it tells its story with heart & soul. The Screenplay is Written with heart, although its sluggish in parts. Sanjay Tripathy's Direction is commendable.

Performance-Wise: The joy of watching The Late/Great Farooq Sheikh is immeasurable. The legendary actor delivers a fabulous performance from start to end, without missing a single beat. Sarika supports Sheikh wonderfully. Raghubir Yadav is bit too loud, but that's the demand of his character. Sharat Saxena, Satish Shah & Tinnu Anand are fantastic, as always. Vineet Kumar is decent. Suhasini Mulay is in fine form, as usual. Others lend good support.

On the whole, 'Club 60' deserves a watch. Its an honest film with first-rate performances.

To begin with, certain films are not meant to be reviewed with the usual set pattern since they have not been made with that routine mindset and have something precious to share in their thoughtful narrative about we the people, our relationships and the life lived in our final years (of old age) under some tough conditions. Hence where you might find many reputed reviewers giving it a very average star ratings, I would strongly like to differ and rate CLUB 60 as a must watch since it does have a lot to teach about life, its profound contradictions and has a positive attitude which needs to be followed in our last phase of life i.e. old age.

Opening with a soulful narration by Farooque Sheikh about his own tragedy of life faced along with wife Sarika, the film clearly indicates that there is surely something extremely thoughtful and out of the routine coming in its next reels supported by a talented cast. Admittedly it does take a little time to sink in and even the introduction of Raghuvir Yadav at first feels like a bit over the top and loud. But once it all settles down after the initial introductions and a highly emotional scene comes in led by an amazing portrayal by Sarika, CLUB 60 starts influencing the viewer strongly and then seldom gives you a dull moment right till its well-conceived realistic climax following an impressive progression. Further the film has many insightful, well written sequences to be cherished with tears and smiles together, wherein many renowned veterans make a very impactful comeback after a long hiatus.

For instance, post a decent performance in "Listen…Amaya" (2013), CLUB 60 gives you back the Farooque Sheikh of the 80s (as in "Katha", "Chashme Buddoor" & more) effortlessly playing the skillful surgeon who has given up the spirit of living life after the death of his young son. It makes you meet the good old Raghuvir Yadavtransporting you back in the times of his great TV serials like "Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapney". The film pleasantly discovers a very fine actress in Sarika, who was more known for her bold choices of roles only back in the 80s. And the lady truly scores the maximum, playing the strong, caring and suffering characters of a mother and wife together in a splendid way. Along with these key names, CLUB 60 has Satish Shah, Tinnu Anand, Sharat Saxena & Vineet Kumar lovingly playing the group of old friends, plus Zareena Wahab, Suhasini Mulay, Himani Shivpuri, Harsh Chhaya and Viju Khote quietly leaving an impression in their short roles.

Directed by the debutant Sanjay Tripathy, the film grows on you as it progresses and delivers some extremely thoughtful 'Precious Gems like dialogues', forcing you to think over them with empathy. Yes it could have easily been more impactful with a shorter length and less songs, but actually one doesn't notices these drawbacks after getting engrossed in the lives of its various characters and enjoys the songs too especially the well written ghazal "Rooh Mein Faasle Nahin Hotey", "Pal Pal Khelti Hai Zindagi" and "Kho Kar Maine Aaj Tumhe Paaya Hai" sung soulfully. Moreover with a fairly enjoyable script giving a highly refreshing, rare and meaningful message to the audience, CLUB 60 certainly rises much above these minor hiccups and deserves to be seen even by the youngsters who are eventually going to reach that age too in the coming decades. The film made me smile, laugh & cry in its various sequences depicting the last phase of our life differently and then forced me think about the same from a new perspective, as shared below in some straight words.

Despite its visible shortcomings, as I see it, CLUB 60 can easily be called a revolutionary kind of project, since it simply breaks all those rotten patterns of showing 'the old age' in a depressing mode in our films since decades. In fact it brings forward an extremely important message to be passed on to every old and middle aged person around, that LIFE doesn't end when you retire after the age of 60, but it actually begins with more spirit, freedom & fun if re-considered from a new cheerful angle full of positivity.

Hence with a hope that this message reaches all adults passing through any phase of their lives be it youth, middle age or old, I strongly recommend CLUB 60 to all like-minded friends here boldly, since we don't get to see such honest and sincere attempts made in our Hindi Cinema often. Yes, the film is not perfect but still is a far better product and much above than even a hundred visionless big budget films supported by all the renowned stars. Hence do give it a chance at the earliest and then spend some time thinking upon its positive message too, in order to experience an encouraging, joyful and winning end of a journey well lived.

A very nice movie. Movies are basically a medium of entertainment. Everything apart from entertainment is secondary. However the way entertainment is blended with any message or a thought makes the movie good or average. Manubhai is the centre of this movie. He represents an ideal way of living life. He epitomizes life in itself. He is naughty, he is sleazy, he is friendly, he is respectful, he is understanding, he is caring, he is rude, he is funny. All the other characters, who represent majority of the people around us, including oneself, revolve around him in just the same way as we try to follow our own life. We try to please it sometimes, we curse it sometimes. We hate it one time and then we just adore it the next time. Never do we realize what it really wants or how do we react to it. The Movie through the character of Manubhai exactly tries to give us some clues about handling that dilemma in our own life. 'Zindagi se ehsaan mat le, Zindagi pe ehsaan kar'. This basic thought is so simply put yet in such a beautiful and most importantly in such an entertaining way. The story identifies a few characters as the most important, as it should be, but the director makes sure every element of the movie is necessary. Hence, everyone shines through. Personally, of many good movies in the last 2-3 decades, I found this movie to be the closest to Hrishikesh Mukherjee style of movie making. Why the movie did not collect much money on the box office is something I don't understand, but then the movies that make money are the most stupidest kind ones. So in that sense it is right, but the producer should get back his money with some profit otherwise we wont be able to see these type of classics. The type of reality shows, happening on the idiot box, that are getting viewer ship explains the deteriorating choice of the general public and this movie is just a 'drop in the ocean' in cleansing the overall muddy entertainment spread everywhere. I did miss the movie when it got released and neither did I notice it anytime in any DVD store. I got to know about it and also watched the movie on a Free but legally available online streaming service. If anyone wants to watch after reading the review, please make sure you do the same. That is all we as responsible audience can do to support such creative activities.