Gulmohar (2023 film)

Gulmohar
Official release poster
Directed by	Rahul V. Chittella
Written by	Rahul V. Chittella Arpita Mukherjee
Produced by	Vikesh Bhutani Rahul Chittella Shujaat Saudagar
Starring	Sharmila Tagore Manoj Bajpayee Simran Suraj Sharma Amol Palekar Kaveri Seth
Cinematography	Eeshit Narain
Edited by	Tanupriya Sharma
Music by	Siddhartha Khosla Alan Demoss
Production companies	Star Studios Autonomous Works Chalkboard Entertainment
Distributed by	Disney+ Hotstar
Release date	3 March 2023 (2023-03-03)
Running time	132 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Gulmohar (transl. Flame Tree) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language family drama film written and directed by Rahul V. Chittella.^[1] The film stars Sharmila Tagore, Manoj Bajpayee, Simran, Suraj Sharma, Amol Palekar, and Kaveri Seth, amongst others.^[2][3] It was released on Disney+ Hotstar on 3 March 2023.^[4] It was featured in the 54th IFFI Indian panorama mainstream section.^[5][6]

At the 2023 Filmfare OTT Awards, Gulmohar received 14 nominations won 3 awards, including Best Actress in a Web Original Film (Critics) (Tagore) and Best Supporting Actor in a Web Original Film (Sharma). At the 70th National Film Awards, the film won the Best Feature Film in Hindi, Best Screenplay (Dialogues) (Mukherjee and Chittella), and Special Mention (feature film) (Bajpayee).

The Batra family has been living in a house named "Gulmohar" for many decades. As their Gulmohar villa is being brought down to give way to a high rise, the family meets up for one last party before the packers and movers take over. However, over the course of ghazal and gossip, the discordant notes in their relationships get exposed and one gets sucked into their tumultuous present and turbulent past. The postcards of memories are riddled with cryptic messages on the destiny.

The music for the film composed by Siddhartha Khosla and Alan Demoss with lyrics written by Shellee.

Gulmohar received widespread critical acclaim. Critics praised the performances of Tagore, Bajpayee, and Simran. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.^[7]

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film giving 4 out of 5 stars and said that "there is a great deal of beauty in the muted melodrama", praising the cast's ensemble performance.^[8]

Alaka Sahani of The Indian Express drew a parallel between Gulmohar and Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding and termed it as director Rahul V Chittella's Tribute to his mentor.^[9]

Dhaval Roy, writing for The Times of India, gave the movie 3.5 stars and gave particular praise to the acting performance of the cast stating that Tagore "is par excellence" and that "while Manoj is outstanding, so is Simran as his wife, Indu. The duo's individual performances are as noteworthy as their on-screen chemistry as husband and wife". He highlighted the "commendable performances" of the rest of the cast.^[10]

Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times was more critical. While she praised the cast's performance she also stated that "the film needed much better editing" with certain subplots seeming "half-baked".^[11]

Sanjib Kalita in Gaysi critically examines the queer representation in the film, stating that "The queer representation in the film is mere tokenism, and is used to construct the illusion of diversity." Kalita further adds "Understanding female sexuality in isolation from class, the economy, and society is difficult. Society privileges men and stifles women’s desires, through various institutions like marriage (in this case, between Kusum and her husband), romantic relationships (between Ankur and Ambika), and forces women into compulsory heterosexuality. Director Rahul V. Chittella, who touches upon these subtleties, could have explored more by emphasizing the narratives of desire and longing while connecting critiques of heteronormativity to understandings of other social norms."^[12]

• Gulmohar at IMDb