Anil Sharma, as a film director, is popularly known for the Gadar films, which made a huge impact on the silver screen. He did direct a family-oriented film, Apne (2007) with his favorite set of actors, the Deols, and that was a fairly good movie as well for its time. The director is back with a Baghban-ish film that discusses the importance of parents and why they need extra care when they grow old. Vanvaas is the new Hindi film, and the term could be loosely translated to “exile,” and it is used explicitly in the Hindu epics like Ramayana.
Spoilers Ahead
Why was the old man abandoned at Varanasi?
Vanvaas began with a young married couple where the husband was still madly in love with his wife Bimla, who was the mother of his three children and the person that takes care of the household. The movie moves to the current timeline, where the old man with dementia, along with his three sons and their wives, is getting ready for a trip to Varanasi. Initially, it was planned as a family vacation where all of them would celebrate their father’s birthday, but it turns out they wanted to abandon him at an old age home in the city. It’s implied that the father was an old rich man who was suffering from dementia and planning to turn their mansion-like home in Palampur into a trust for the needy in the name of his beloved deceased wife, Bimla.
The children were in need of the money to clear their debts, and realizing that their father wouldn’t agree to sell the property, they decided to leave him in the crowded temple town. Varanasi as a town was always associated with old people seeking nirvana and eventually dying in peace, but slowly the city had become packed with elderly men and women who were abandoned by their young children. The old man’s children did the same as they left him in the city with some cash. Though the youngest son, Somu, was not keen on this plan, he was forced to leave the town without their father.
Who did the old man meet?
The old man had bouts where he would not remember where he was and relied on his memories from the past. In his memory, his wife was still alive, and his sons were children. On his quest to find his children, who he assumed were little, he ran into Veeru, who worked as a volunteer that helped people with any issue concerning lost and found, including children and elderly people. Veeru initially was not keen on helping the man, and he asked him to file a case in the local police station. Veeru and the police assumed the man was senile since he spoke about topics that did not make sense to anybody. They also noticed the old man would become violent and assume people around him were attempting to kill him.
Veeru felt the man was a burden, for he was too honest. He had to let the old man know that his children had abandoned him in this city just like many others. Veeru himself was abandoned by his family when he was a child, and as a result, he refused to treat parent-child relationships as sacred. After many tiffs, Veeru and the old man began to converse about the love they have for their respective partners. Veeru was in love with Meena, a local dancer. Meena’s aunt was not keen on her relationship with Veeru, since he was financially unstable.
How did Veeru learn of the old man’s dementia?
The old man got sick, and he had to be admitted to the hospital. It was after a thorough checkup that the doctor let Veeru, Meena, and his friend Pappu know that the old man was suffering from dementia and the only way to get him to remember details of his present was to ask questions about his past. Initially, Veeru was not willing to take care of the old man, and asked his acquaintance to take the man away from the town. A concerned Meena confronted Veeru and admonished him for his behavior as she claimed the old man was being taken away for organ trade purposes. She refused to be with Veeru if he did not rescue the old man from a near-death situation. A guilt-ridden Veeru saved the old man, who again acted violently. It seems as though the man had some of his old memories triggered, and acting aggressively was his way to save himself from getting harmed.
What were the old man’s children upto?
The old man’s sons and their wives held a fake funeral in the name of their father and claimed he drowned in the river Ganga. The family lawyer, Gautam Gupta, would not have it, and wondered if the family had made up a lie to sell their father’s property. Shomu, the youngest sibling, was not happy with the way the family abandoned the father and was very close to admitting the truth about the incident in the sacred town out of guilt. A while after the funeral and prayer meeting, the sons came to know that a property their grandfather purchased in their father’s name was now under the government of India. The government of India was willing to purchase the land for more than INR 40 crore, provided the family deposited the death certificate of their father. The family was excited about the money since most of their problems would be solved, yet they were not considering bringing the father back and explaining the situation to the townspeople. After a lot of debate over who would get most of the amount dividing the share, the family decided to acquire a fake death certificate.
What happened on reaching Shimla?
Veeru, Meena, and Pappu, along with their peers in the town, wanted to help the old man regain his memories. They wanted to know his real name and take him back to his hometown to be reunited with his family. They began to ask the old man questions about his past as the doctor suggested. The old man, while reminiscing about his younger days, mentioned Shimla, and everyone decided to head to the hilly town to find his family. On reaching Shimla, they tried to look for places that the old man had mentioned but to no avail. Amidst all of this, the old man again had a manic episode, and during that, he had memories of his daughter-in-law being emotionally and physically abusive to him.
The old man was able to connect the dots, as Shimla was the place where he met his wife, Bimla, and he could recollect the memories from their courting days. His memories took him to nearby towns and got Veeru, Meena, and Pappu to find more details about the old man’s father, but nothing about his current family. Veeru, Meena, and Pappu were getting attached to the old man as they began to see him as a father figure; because none of them had one growing up. They were not willing to let him go but had to, since he needed to be in the care of his real family.
What was the old man’s name and identity?
Veeru, Meena, and Pappu finally found an old letter written by Bimla in the old man’s bag. His name was Deepak Tyagi, and everyone was relieved to have finally found his name and identity. This was rather dramatic, which was expected in a commercial film. The over-the-top emotion and pityness felt by the trio for the old man from the start was unsurprising, and it crescendoed with a sudden natural calamity that hit the town. This subplot was unnecessary, and it was included to stretch the film further.
Deepak Tyagi, along with Veeru, Meena, and Pappu, was injured in the landslide. The old man was able to get them out of the rubble and contacted the state disaster management department. The trio was shocked when the high-ranking officers came to meet him and they realized Deepak Tyagi was a high-ranking government officer and had been highly respected before his retirement. The revelation implied that everyone around Deepak Tyagi admired and adored him except his family, who did not think twice before abandoning him. Deepak Tyagi, right from the start, did come across as a learned and kind person, which left Veeru perplexed by the way his children behaved, since he was medically not in the capacity to take care of himself.
Did Deepak Tyagi reunite with his children?
Deepak Tyagi could finally remember his address; this was after the recovery process. Veeru, Meena, and Pappu were not that glad this revelation happened, internally, they were not sure taking him to his home could be the right idea. They had to take Deepak Tyagi out to locate his home as they felt the man deserved to confront their children. Deepak Tyagi, at this point, had regained his sanity and was able to understand his surroundings. This was factually not possible because dementia has always been a deteriorating mental health condition. Deepak getting his memories back was purely a cinematic addition since he was wronged and he deserved closure.
Deepak, on reaching his home, learned of the money his children received. He was also told about the mansion that was sold as well. The mansion was Deepak’s prized possession, and he’d never wanted to sell it since he had raised his children with Bimla in that home. He had a lot of memories of himself with his wife here; as a result, he was shocked to know his children had declared him dead and proceeded to go ahead with their own plans and agenda. A dejected Deepak confronted his children soberly and questioned their moves. Deepak needed this, since he was not planning to live with them anymore after the way they treated him. The movie, through Deepak’s character, wanted to imply that children don’t seem to care about their aging parents and consider them as burdens.
Deepak’s only concern was that the children could have shared their monetary problems with him, and he would have agreed to the sale of the mansion. That did not make sense, as Deepak had been diagnosed with dementia for a long time, and there’s no way he would make the right decision. Keeping that in mind, his sons and their wives’ actions were not right, since they broke the law to manipulate the situation to favor them. Again, the over-the-top emotional confrontation was the need of the hour since this was a commercial Hindi film. Deepak’s older son apologized as the elderly man planned to leave them, probably for the rest of their lives. He shamed his son for lying to his face and not meaning a single word he uttered. This was embarrassing for the son, and the father was not sure if it was a heartfelt apology, since Deepak had let the town know about their actions. It was right of the elderly man to have walked away because he could not trust his own flesh and blood.
Vanvaas ended with Deepak Tyagi doing his own last rituals since he felt he was dead. He had nobody to live for since his own family had betrayed him. Veeru, who had gotten attached to Deepak, asked him to treat him like his son, as he had started seeing him as a father figure. Veeru, right from the start, referred to him as ‘baba,’ which was a term of endearment since he was abandoned at a young age. He found a father figure in Deepak and went out of his way to help the man instead of abandoning him. Veeru wanted Deepak to live with him as long as he could, and he would be happy to serve him for as long as the elderly person lived. This proves that sometimes strangers would come forward and change your life, and the people who have known you for a long time would not think twice before emotionally betraying you. Deepak was moved by Veeru’s action. Out of sheer pain and agony, he died in Veeru’s arms, which was sad. Veeru was dejected since he would not get any more time to spend with Deepak. He performed Deepak’s last rites in Varanasi, and we assume the sons were not allowed to join. The story began in Varanasi, and it ended in that city, and Deepak finally got the closure he was seeking, and he would finally reunite with Bimla on the other side.