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At what point does a house become a home? Is it the walls, the people who inhabit them, or simply the price someone is willing to pay for them? And, more unsettlingly, is there really a price tag attached to everything and everyone?
Last Man In Tower, starring Manoj Bajpayee, wastes little time in putting these uncomfortable questions front and centre. Packed into a crisp one-and-a-half-hour runtime, the film turns a straightforward story about a building and its residents into an exploration of greed.
Based on Aravind Adiga’s novel of the same name, the story revolves around Masterji (Manoj Bajpayee), an ageing schoolteacher who lives alone in Vishram, away from his son and his family after his wife died. The society is more than just a collection of houses; it is a close-knit community where neighbours look out for one another through thick and thin. Among them is Mrs Puri (Divya Dutta), who is raising a child with special needs.
Their peaceful lives are disrupted when builder Dharmen Shah (Boman Irani) approaches the residents with an offer they can't refuse: their society in exchange for two and a half times the market price. While many are initially reluctant, Masterji included, the lure of the money eventually wins over almost every resident. Masterji refuses to leave the place he considers home.
But as he stands his ground, the very neighbours who once looked up to him begin to turn against him. What starts as a big offer gradually becomes a battle over dignity and how far people are willing to go when money enters the equation.
Director Ben Rekhi retains the essence of Aravind Adiga’s novel while keeping the adaptation focused and to the point. The film rarely feels like something being staged or “filmed” for our consumption. Instead, its visual language makes it feel as though we are quietly peeking through a peephole, observing the residents of Vishram and their lives without ever intruding upon them.
And it’s intriguing. After all, what’s more compelling than watching humans simply be human? The first half sets the tone very well. The story flows well and makes you look forward to the conclusion of this increasingly dark story. The second half dips a teeny bit, but that's okay. The climax of the film leaves you startled and lingers, especially because the director shows you the aftermath of it all.
It's remarkable how Rangarajan Ramabadran, the cinematographer of Last Man In Tower, makes the viewer feel the stark difference between something as warm as a bustling Vishram society and flats that might be modern and luxurious but lack that warmth.
Performance-wise, Manoj Bajpayee makes the role look like a cakewalk. He's too good, and is very effective at channelising the despair he feels as a lonely man who dies a death before he literally does. Divya Dutta as Mrs Puri is the peak of how greed takes over one's sensibilities. Her act in the climax sent chills down my spine. Boman Irani as the builder reminds you of Khurana sahab in Khosla Ka Ghosla- he's still as impactful as he was then.
Overall, Last Man In Tower works because it doesn’t reduce greed to a simple battle between good and bad. Instead, it shows how easily the common man can be pushed into uncomfortable places when money enters the picture. What begins as a story about selling a building gradually becomes an unsettling examination of what people are willing to sacrifice for a better life. And by the time the credits roll, the film leaves you with one uncomfortable thought: perhaps the real price of a home isn’t what someone is willing to pay for it, but what you are willing to give up to keep it.
E-Paper
