Climbing The Everest Within

Uunchai, an upcoming Hindi film, showcases the friendship between three senior citizens and how they push beyond physical limitations to conquer a challenging trek.

Three friends trek to the Everest Base Camp to fulfill another friend’s last wish. The trek turns out to be a journey of a lifetime as the three, all senior citizens, battle physical limitations and discover what it means to be truly free and limitless. For director Sooraj Barjatya, the gentle, quiet director we know behind family blockbusters like Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun and Hum Saath Saath Hai, making a film that centered around the journey of three senior citizens seemed a unique yet natural choice to celebrate 75 years of his production house, Rajshri. 

“I loved the hope the film gave. Covid took away all expectations from makers. So I made this for myself. It is a film that I wanted to make without thinking of the box office or following the norm. I broke all barriers and made a film that has my soul. The rest is incidental,” he told Silver Talkies.

Barjatya’s prime inspiration behind the film remains a newly minted octogenarian who has inspired several people across the country with the way he turned around his second innings – None other than superstar Amitabh Bachchan.      

“Amitji inspired me,” Barjatya says, mentioning the meticulousness Amitabh Bachchan is famous for.

Uunchai also stars acting stalwarts Boman Irani (62), Neena Gupta (63), Danny Denzongpa (74), Sarika (60), and Anupam Kher (67), apart from Parineeti Chopra. Older actors in the industry are often relegated to playing the standard family stalwart role. We hope it would be refreshing to see a film that focuses on their camaraderie and friendship, one of the main markers of growing older healthily and actively.

Interestingly, Uunchai reflects a trend when age is no longer a deterrent to adventure travel for many senior citizens in India. We often hear about many of them challenging their physical limit for new adventures and have several examples of an active life among members of our Silver Talkies Club.

Has the movie come at the right time when aging is gradually seeing an evolution in urban India? We asked the inimitable Boman Irani what he thought. While Irani doesn’t wish to slot the film, he does share that it focuses on living your life without stagnating. “Yes, it’s about three old guys on a trek. But it’s also about why should age become a deterrent for us? The key message is that it's not about being young and old. It's about changing and shaking up your routine, whether young or old.” 

Irani thinks every generation, especially the youth, will have a takeaway from the film.

“The first takeaway is there's no timeline that others have decided for you. You make your own timeline.”

The second is friendship. “If you've had a falling out of friendship, you will say no, I have to rekindle those friendships because life's too short. It's about loyalty. It's about paying homage to the people you love. There are so many themes in it that people will take away what they want."

"The ultimate message is to do what you want to do and don't let anybody tell you whether you're too old or young to do it!”

To wrap, we asked the director Sooraj Barjatya what kind of motivating message he expects both younger and older audiences to take away from a film that highlights the friendship between three senior citizens? Especially given the restricted portrayal of older adults in our cinema? 

“Uunchai is a film about finding the Everest within. It is a film about hope and happiness, friendship and dreams. It teaches you that nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it, you will scale your Uunchai and crest among the clouds!” 

At Silver Talkies, we not only identify with that sentiment but absolutely agree to that! 

Uunchai releases in theatres on November 11. If you watch it, do tell us the message you came back home with, in the comments below. Would you also like to see older adult representations in various roles and experiences? We would love to know.