The Signature

“It is not death they are afraid of, they are afraid of Life.”

This was the slug line of a television advertisement on senior citizens. I do not remember whether it was a social commercial or advertising a brand. But the slug line struck right on our jugulars. Though, we senior citizens might be a bit scared to admit this but we really are scared of Life as we find it taking directions we did not anticipate when we were young.

The Signature , released on Zee 5, gets itself listed in the constantly expanding list of films focused on the condition of senior citizens in contemporary India. The list is never-ending. Rajesh Khanna in Avtaar, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini in Baghban, Bachchain in Piku, Sanjeev Kumar in Sholay, and many more are glittering examples.

One may recall that the actor who portrays Arvind Pathak, the elderly protagonist in the film, namely, Anupam Kher, made his large screen debut as an elderly father in Mahesh Bhatt’s Saransh (1984) embarking on a series of personal crusades beginning with fighting to gain access to his dead son’s possessions from the airport office when he comes to claim the dead young man’s body.

He later fights to defend his dead son’s girlfriend from being attacked by a powerful politician’s goons. Between these two films, the cinematic map in India has been filled with many feature films focusing on senior citizens of the country.

The status of the elderly varies significantly across time, place and social arrangements, including the extent to which retirement policies, pension provisions and housing can foster independence or generate dependence, with important implications for physical and psychological health.

It is sad therefore, that along with a new interest in the consumer and political potential of the elderly among the public in general and gerontologists and sociologists in particular, one can also sense moral panic.

Gajendra Vithal Ahire, a National Award-winning director known for his excellent Marathi films, takes on the directorial mantle to direct The Signature starring Anupam Kher in the lead as Arvind Pathak, an elderly man whose wife, Madhu (Neena Kulkarni), collapses at the international airport just before they are to embark on a foreign tour 35 years after their marriage.

She goes into a coma and Arvind Pathak (Anupam Kher)’s world collapses around him. He refuses either to believe or to accept that his wife might die despite the elaborate and expensive medical care. Besides, her medical expenses in an elite nursing home cleans around Rs.7 lakhs off his savings over two days. His son, not very successful career-wise, is worried about his own future when he discovers his father’s last savings are about to vanish into nothingness.

But Pathak is adamant and eternally hopeful about his wife’s recovery. He disregards the chief medico’s suggestions about withdrawing all life support. His son has the same opinion. An extremely distressed Pathak is just not ready to accept the inevitable – that his wife is on her way out. The mounting medical bills and pressure from his son to sign a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order weigh heavily on him, but he refuses.

He visits his wife’s sickbed and keeps talking to her, never mind that she cannot hear him. At times, the film moves back in time to throw up glimpses of happy moments shared between Pathak and Madhu after they have bought a house somewhere in the suburbs and enjoy their togetherness.

He visits his daughter, a kind girl who is willing to help but does not have the means to do so. He calls on his old-time friend (Annu Kapoor) and asks him to help him sell the house. But this idea draws a naught because his son, who jointly owns the house, refuses to sign the sales document. Even the LIC scheme Madhu had taken without his knowledge draws nothing because its date has expired.

However, despite very well fleshed-out characters and their interaction, The Signature is quite depressing though this is perhaps among Anupam Kher’s most outstanding performances.

He is supported by small cameos like the one portrayed by Ranvir Shorey whose son is in coma and he questions the doctors of the elite hospital for keeping the family members of the patients uninformed and in the dark. Shorey has given a poignant performance including in the end when his son is dead and Pathak is shocked when he sees the stretcher with the small boy’s dead body being dragged away. Annu Kapoor as Pathak’s lifelong friend is wonderful which is not surprising considering he is a very talented actor.

If one may say so, the bright point in the film is the segment when Pathak visits his childhood friend Ambika (Mahima Choudhury). She is a bubbly, cheerful, middle-aged widow flush with affluence. She is very happy to meet her childhood friend and keeps her sadness hidden under heavy make-up, drinks and a merry exterior.

Heavy showers force Pathak to spend the night in Ambika’s house. The most shocking moment in the film is when Ambika appears ready to retire for the night, wearing a nightgown with her head shorn of hair. She tells the shocked Pathak that she too, is fighting cancer which shows Pathak that not every case of awaiting death need always be sad, depressing and hopeless.

He readies himself to put his signature on the DNR form and with a sad heart, bent form, dragging steps, he steps into the hospital canteen readying to sign the form. The film closes on this sad note but the melodramatic twist in the end is not only needless but brings the film down some rungs of the ladder of excellence in terms of the narrative.

The music is lovely and the camera effectively captures the contradiction between and among the interiors of the lush hospital, the cosy warmth and homeliness of the Pathaks’ home, the lush interiors of Ambika’s home who keeps commenting on the terrible smell from Pathak’s jhola, the tenderness in Pathak’s confused daughter-in-law and the helplessness in his daughter.

If the film has a long life in terms of viewer popularity, the credit will directly go to Anupam Kher in the garb of a disheveled old man, mentally struggling between his failure to accept his wife’s possible demise and his hope in her complete recovery in the face of severe financial struggles, is outstanding. His wig suits him to a Tee and his walk, mostly crooked and directionless, offers a glimpse of his mental distress.

Gajendra Ahire decided to pick on his own original Marathi film Anumati released in 2013 to make this official Hindi version. The film featured the late Vikram Gokhale who won the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film in the role portrayed by Anupam Kher in The Signature. Anumati also won the Best Feature Film Award at the New York Indian Film Festival.