Hotel Salvation

Mukti Bhawan
Directed by	Shubhashish Bhutiani
Screenplay by	Shubhashish Bhutiani Asad Hussain
Produced by	Sanjay Bhutiani Sajida Sharma Shubhashish Bhutiani
Starring	Adil Hussain Lalit Behl Geetanjali Kulkarni Palomi Ghosh Navnindra Behl Anil K Rastogi
Cinematography	Michael McSweeney David Huwiler
Edited by	Manas Mittal
Music by	Tajdar Junaid
Production company	Red Carpet Moving Pictures
Release dates	September 2, 2016 (2016-09-02) (Venice Film Festival) April 7, 2017 (2017-04-07) (India)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Mukti Bhawan (English: Hotel Salvation) is a 2016 Indian film based on relationships and family written and directed by Shubhashish Bhutiani and produced by Sanjay Bhutiani. The film stars Adil Hussain and Lalit Behl in the lead roles. The film got four nominations at the 63rd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film (Critics) .

Plot

Mukti Bhawan isn’t a story of death, but of life and relationships that make us who we are, in a city that sometimes sees death as part of its fabric and sometimes as a celebration. Mukti Bhawan is a film that follows the story of a reluctant son who must take his father to the holy city of Varanasi, where his father believes he will breathe his last and attain salvation. When a 77-year-old man, Daya, wakes up from a strange nightmare, he knows his time is up and he must get to Varanasi immediately in hope of dying there to attain salvation. His dutiful son, Rajiv, is left with no choice but to drop everything and make the journey with his stubborn father, leaving behind his wife and daughter. The two of them check into MuktiBhawan, a hotel devoted to people hoping to spend their last days there. Rajiv finds himself having to live and take care of his father for the first time in his life. While Rajiv struggles to juggle his responsibilities back home, Daya starts to bloom as he finds a sense of community in the hotel, and a companion in the 75-year old Vimla. As the days go by and Daya shows no sign of letting up, Rajiv is faced with the dilemma of whether to remain there with his father or fulfill his duty back home. Rajiv gives his father a shot at salvation but as family bonds are tested, he finds himself torn, not knowing what he must do to keep his life together.

Faced with his father's untimely and bizarre demand to go and die in the holy city of Varanasi and attain Salvation, a son is left with no choice but to embark on this journey.

Cast

• Adil Hussain as Rajiv
• Lalit Behl as Daya
• Geetanjali Kulkarni as Lata
• Palomi Ghosh as Sunita
• Navnindra Behl as Vimla
• Anil K Rastogi as Mishraji

Release

Mukti Bhawan had it's world premiere on September 2, 2016 at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival while in India it's release date was April 7, 2017.

Reception

Critical Response

On Rotten Tomatoes Mukti Bhawan has an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. On Metacritic, another review aggregator, the film has a score of 80 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film a rating of 4 stars out of 5 and said that, "Shubhashish Bhutiani’s dreamy comedy-drama about a businessman embarking on a final journey with his father is smart, spellbinding and achingly relatable". David Parkinson of Empire gave the film a rating of 4 stars out of 5 and said that, "Filmed on a modest budget with a subtle sense of place and pace, this highly impressive debut considers mortality with a wry compassion that's rare for such a young director".

Rajeev Masand gave the film a rating of 4 stars out of 5 saying that, "Mukti Bhawan is as much a celebration of life – complete with all its complexities and paradoxes – as it is a meditation on the harsh realities of getting old and dying. It is both poignant and uplifting. Beautifully shot and although languidly paced, Bhutiani delivers an evocative drama that has surely got to be one the best films you’ll see this year." Raja Sen of NDTV gave the film a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 and concluded his review by saying that, "In the way companionship and clarity can be found without looking. In the way an accountant works at learning to cook. In the way soap operas provide succour. Somewhere in the middle of this beautiful, meditative film comes the greatest lesson of all: that a perfect, poetic goodbye doesn't have to wait for the end.". Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5 and said that, "There’s much to like about Mukti Bhawan. It brings to us themes which are either ignored or dealt with in our cinema with mawkishness and heavy sentimentality. Bhutiani removes the cloyingness and replaces it with a moving matter-of-fact acceptance of the final destination: this is a director to watch out for."

Nihit Bhave of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5 and said that, "Bhutiani has assembled a stellar cast of theatre greats and indie-film favourites. Behl and Hussain are endearing as the father-son duo, frustrated by and fond of each other simultaneously. The plot is too skimpy and with its languid pacing, the movie eventually seems a bit indulgent. The filmmaker’s exposure to slow, contemplative festival films becomes apparent. But the unassuming characters and the humour make it a delightful watch." Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the film a rating of 4 stars out of 5 and concluded her review by saying that, "Mukti Bhawan is a work of staggering depth and sublime vision".

Accolades

• UNESCO jury awarded the XXIIIrd prix “Enrico Fulchignoni” to Shubhashish Bhutiani for his movie Hotel Salvation in 2016.
• UNESCO Gandhi Medal 2016 at the 23rd Venice International Film Festival.
• Actor Adil Hussain and Director Shubhashish Bhutiani won the National Film Award – Special Jury Award in 2016.
• Adil Hussain won the Best Actor award for Hotel Salvation at the DC South Asian Film Festival held in Washington DC,USA in September 2017.
• Mukti Bhawan won the Audience Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival held in Stuttgart in 2017.
• Best Film Award at the 17th Annual NEW YORK INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL held during April 30-May 7, 2017.
• Critics Choice Award 2017 at The Vesoul Film Festival, France.
• FOI Online Awards, 2018 for Best Original Screenplay (Shubhashish Bhutiani) and Special Jury Mention for actor Adil Hussain.
• Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay for Shubhashish Bhutiani.
• Indian National Award 2016 Special Mention for Best Film
• Indian National Award 2016 Special Mention for Best Actor
• Biennale College Cinema Award, Venice 2016.
• Critics Choice Award, The Vesoul Film Festival, France 2017.
• Asia Cinema Fund by BIFF 2016, Busan.
• Audience Choice Award 2017, Indie Meme Festival, Texas 2017.
• Behind the Scenes-Prisoners Jury Award at MOOOV Festival, Belgium 2017.
• Audience Choice Award Stuttgart Indian Film Festival, Germany 2017.
• Best Actor Award for Adil Hussain at the DCSAFF 2017, USA.
• Best Debut Director , 8th Jagran Film Festival 2017, India.
• Best Actor, Special Mention Award, 8th Jagran Film Festival, India.
• Jury Award Festival du Film d’Asie 2017, Paris – France.
• Best Debut Director Nomination – Shubhashish Bhutiani, Star Screen Awards 2017.
• Best Story – Shubhashish Bhutiani, Star Screen Awards 2017.
• Best Film Critics, Star Screen Awards 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Hotel Salvation at IMDb