'October' review: Varun Dhawan's nuanced performance will surprise you

Nowhere in the film is there a romance spelt out yet, the underlying love and longing makes it stand apart

Director Shoojt Sircar's "October" is a poignant tale about love and hope, where Shiuli or night Jasmine flowers, which are perfumed and spread their fragrance everywhere and abound in autumn, is cleverly used as a metaphor to denote the ephemeral nature of life.

Danish Walia or Dan (Varun Dhawan), as he is fondly called is a hotel management intern at a five star hotel in Delhi, who is known for his brusque and self-assured ways.

Always dreaming of something big, he dislikes the menial chores assigned to him and is irresponsible and undependable. His friends, who are his colleagues at work, including Shiuli Iyer (Banita Sandhu) and Manjeet, often cover up for him and save him from trouble.

A chance accident which lands Shiuli Iyer in hospital, results in the uncaring and indifferent Dan transform into a new person. His whole life revolves around ensuring that Shiuli recovers and he inadvertently becomes a pillar of strength for her family, especially her mother Prof Iyer (Gitanjali Rao).

Although the pace of the film is painfully slow and a large chunk of it is based in a morbid setting -- a hospital, it is completely devoid of melodrama.

Nowhere in the film is there a romance spelt out yet, the underlying love and longing makes it stand apart.

The film appears unhurried, but does not seem jarring, as it complements the flavour of the narrative.

Writer Juhi Chaturvedi skilfully injects humour through the witty dialogues -- whether about varicose veins or wrongly laundered underwear, mostly mouthed by the brash and tactless Dan, thus never allowing monotony to set in.

Each character is well-etched and fits snugly into the plot, which flows smoothly. Although seemingly predictable, the end brings with it an unexpected twist which sums up the film succinctly.

Varun Dhawan excels as Dan and the metamorphosis of his character without seeming overly emotional or mushy, is well-written and astutely handled by him as an actor.(more)

Oscars 2018 highlights: Sridevi remembered; 'The Shape of Water' best film

Guillermo Del Toro-directed 'The Shape of Water' bagged two of the top honours at the 90th Academy Awards

The Oscars 2018 90th Academy Award concluded on Monday with Guillermo Del Toro-directed The Shape of Water bagging two of the top honours -- for best film and best director. Bollywood diva Sridevi, often called the first lady superstar of Indian films, and Shashi Kapoor -- both of whom passed away recently -- featured in the Award ceremony's 'In Memoriam' section, which pays tribute to artistes who died this year. Others who featured in the section included James Bond star Roger Moore, Mary Goldberg and Johan Johansson, John Heard and Sam Shephard.

The Shape of Water, a fantasy drama, has been in the midst of controversy over the allegation of being a copy of the 1969 play Let Me Hear You Whisper.

The film stars Sally Hawkins as a mute cleaner working in a Cold War-era lab facility who bonds with a sea creature being kept there.

The film dominated the Academy Awards' nomination pack this year, appearing in 13 categories.

Gary Oldman and Fraces McDormand clinched the Best Actor and Best Actress award for their performances in Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri.

Oldman played the UK PM who led Britain to an allied victory in the World War II in the Joe Wright-directed film.

"Thanks for this glorious prize. I owe this and much more to so many," Oldman said in his acceptance speech.

He already has a Golden Globe, a SAG-AFTRA, a CCA and a Bafta in his kitty for playing the cigar smoking, arrogant and stubborn Churchill who would peer through the round, black-rimmed glasses and address Britain for the first time as the PM when the nation was left alone in its opposition to Nazi Germany.

Actors Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Daniel-Day Lewis (Phantom Thread), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and Denzel Washington (Roman J Israel, Esq) were among the other Best Actor nominees.

In a surprise win, Jordan Peele bagged the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Get Out at the 90th Academy Awards, trumping front-runners The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

This was the first Oscar win for the actor-turned-director, who was also nominated in the Best Director category for the horror film about a young African-American visiting his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend and realising there is something wrong going on there.