In The Signature, Anupam Kher plays a retired elderly husband and father who surprises his wife by taking her on her dream international trip but their plans go array when she collapses at the airport and falls into a coma. The movie follows Kher's elderly husband Arvind as he bleeds money and hope that his wife will awaken from her deep sleep and enjoy the rest of her days with him. As the money and hope both start to dry up, his friends, family and doctors all recommend that he provide his signature to take her off life support which would mean the end for his soul mate.
The highlight of the movie is Anupam Kher's performance as he channels the same melancholy and helplessness from his iconic performance from 4 decades ago and still delivers the same level of emotions and evokes very similar visceral reactions from this performance. Where the movie falters a bit is in the direction of its content and performances. Multiple National Award winner Gajendra Ahire ticks all the right boxes to elevate the movie but he isnt able to do what Mahesh Bhatt did with Anupam Kher, Rohini Hattangadi and Soni Razdan all those years ago.
The movie is naturally slow but there is a feel of rushed and sub-par performances by the usually solid Annu Kapoor and Ranvir Shorey and the charismatic Mahima Chaudhary. Ranvir Shorey appears a couple of times in a slightly connected storyline that could have served as a good sub-plot for the movie. His scenes are emotional and his acting is very noteworthy but somewhat disconnected from the main movie. It is as if he is delivering this great performance for another movie in the background. If feels like Annu Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey and Mahima Chaudhary could only give the director a few days of shooting time and they rushed through some scenes which were stitched into the story, resulting in a lower impact from their presence in the movie.
The ending of the movie is well written but not executed at the same level. A final scene which could have easily made a frog cause havoc in our throat ended up becoming a light Oh!!!! And hence misses delivering that knock out punch. Kher is the heart and soul of the movie and I wish it was better executed. It is still a nice emotional drama with a very good central performance. 6/10 for the movie and a 8/10 for Anupam Kher's performance.
