All India Rank – Where parents come-of-age with a country ft. Doordarshan, noodles, and G.O.A.T Varun Grover

How often do you come across films and shows that talk to you like they are breathing the same air you are? When was the last time a filmmaker thought of stealing elements from your life and making a movie about it? When was the last time you saw yourself on the screen through a character and actor and felt represented? Poet-lyricist-writer-director Varun Grover, with his debut directorial All India Rank, is a friendly tap on the shoulder to all of us who have lived through the '90s and the drastic changes that decade brought for India, especially for a boy who was an IIT aspirant against his will with a lot of peer pressure. Does this remind you of someone around you or even yourself?

All India Rank, written and directed by Grover, is one of the most heartfelt movies of recent times, and there is no way you should miss it on the big screen. You ask why? This movie is about coming of age, not just of a young man or a woman, but of a country and, moreover, of parents and parenthood in general. It is about that spiral that we have been pushing our kids into, leading to a very drastic result on the other side, and then blaming the kid for it later. All India Rank sits right before where the spiral ends and pulls the kid out of it, as we should, and that is why it is our cinema, for us, and about us.

Coming from a man who himself is an IIT alumnus, All India Rank is not just about the pressure of studying, but also about the world around us moving forward. The country in the mid-'90s went through a revamp, one that took the people existing by storm. Suddenly, television was more than Doordarshan, noodles were a peak luxury, and cassettes were the new cool. And somewhere in there is All India Rank, wanting to breathe with all that happening around. So technically, it is not just the story of a young boy but of an entire country coming of age.

Also read: All India Rank Review: Bodhisattva Sharma is the irrepressible soul of Varun Grover’s sparkling debut feature

Add to it the parents who have had a traumatic year, and their last hope is their son who is currently an IIT aspirant studying in Kota. These are the parents who have limited resources and are doing all they can to provide everything for their son. But tragedy hits them too, and they are now holding onto him too tightly. Does it suffocate the young man who is yet to even start? Varun Grover, with his quirky poetic gaze toward this world, explores just that. Taking his coming-of-age theme ahead, he makes the parents realize the burden of expectations they have buried their only child under.

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Imagine a writer looking at the other side of the narrative. All these years only the hero and the young had to come of age to be in sync with the parents and elderly. But what about the elderly? Shouldn’t they also take some steps backward and think like their young children? All India Rank comes from a space that wants to be heard, but all it can do is listen to its voice echoing with no reply from the other side. This film is that reply. It is not teaching you how to bring up your children, but it is definitely telling you not to bury them under your expectations.

There are flaws, and they are in the best of films, but that shouldn’t stop you from buying that ticket because this is a film about you who are living with suppressed dreams, all of you who need a trigger to walk towards them, and a lesson to the parents who stand on either side of the fence. Because there is no age to grow up; it happens at every turn and juncture in your life.

PS: The music of All India Rank is precious and even has a track sung by Vishal Bhardwaj. "Thehar Ja" is the highlight of the album alongside "Noodle Sa Dil," a song you don’t want to miss. I have waited 3 months for this album to drop after watching the movie at the MAMI Film Festival. Go for it!

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Also read: The indefatigable charm of All India Rank’s Bodhisattva Sharma