Despite its problems – and there are a few – Waiting is well worth your time. It sags post intermission, and the plotting is weak. But it raises important questions about life, love, and letting go. Plus there are those two splendid performances. That’s plenty to merit a viewing.

Both Naseeruddin and Kalki Koechlin are good fits for their parts in a film which segues easily between English, Hindi and a smattering of Malayalam.

Packaged with Naseeruddin as the adorable old man struggling to understand a younger generation and Kalki as the charming young, energetic woman, Waiting is a delight.
Powerful performances and a realistic approach make this a film you’d want to watch.

If you are willing to watch a sensible film with soul, ‘Waiting’ is definitely a good pick this weekend!

Anu Menon’s true triumph lies in how she doesn’t vilify a profession or its uncomfortable reality to gather empathy for her characters…

An understated and superbly acted film about loss, grief and the human need to cling on to the physical presence of loved ones, Anu Menon’s Waiting is at once heart-wrenching and uplifting.

…the writing wears thin in the latter half. Shiv’s big revelation was unnecessary and the writers seemed unsure how to end it for Tara. And yet, none of it matters. For Kalki and Naseer’s effortless performances, this movie deserves to be watched.

Watch this sensitive tale for Naseer and Kalki’s brilliant performances.

Waiting is a delightful film that breaks the norms of soppy emotional dramas to present something real.

Humour blends with sadness beautifully in the film without making the script melodramatic.

The dialogues that stitch the film together are the soul of the film apart from the very realistic portrayal of their respective characters played by Shah and Koelchin. Both are terrific, nay, they gob-smack you with their handling of emotions which oscillates from the sane to insane!

As a viewing experience, Waiting is refreshingly restrained when compared to most other Hindi films. It struck me as a cross between Lost In Translation (2003) and The Descendants (2011).

The film gives a strange sense of comfort as it begins. A script so beautifully rare, ‘Waiting’ makes you happy when it begins.

Not since Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox have I seen an Indie film addressing itself to the ageless issue of  human desolation and individual grief with such warmth, dignity grace honesty and humour.

What happens when two strangers who meet because their loved ones are in the hospital and they’re waiting for news of their health? The need for human understanding, how you connect with the hospital staff, the madness of reading up on the disease… It’s all there. Human and real and funny and serious.

Waiting is a film which you must include in your “Must watch” list. Director Anu Menon paces the film masterfully and her hold on the narrative rarely flounders. It has an enviable DNA with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Kalki Koechlin and Rajat Kapoor. It can’t get better than this!

This simple film is so much more about dealing with life, death, and the fuzzy space in between, that suddenly becomes precious when you’re hit with the thought of losing the most loved one. You can sense the tragedy. We all have. But we can do nothing about it.

If you are looking to explore the potential of Bollywood storylines, this is a must watch. A completely common occurrence that is in abundance around us has been taken and molded into a unique story that will stay with you.

‘Waiting’ is lengthy due to its slow narration, but at the same time is quite refreshing in terms of performances and the theme of the film. The movie had all the possibilities to end up as one fine cinema, but settles down to being a fair attempt.

Waiting deserves to be seen only for the stellar performances by Shah and Kalki. Rest is forgettable.

…apart from a few wobbles, Waiting walks the line between emotional resonance and emotional manipulation skilfully. Hospitals, whether on the big or small screen, are usually used for their dramatic possibilities: IV demanded “stat”, failing hearts electro-shocked into life. How curious that someone glimpsed, in the same setting, the emotional possibilities of inaction, of waiting.

The film deserves a watch for being one that doesn’t try too hard and for its approach to an extreme situation. Sure, there’s a lot of sobbing, resentment and much of ‘what if’ and ‘I should have’. But there’s also reasoning, acceptance and the ability to envision a life beyond the catastrophic event.

It’s about swinging between hope and despair. It’s about a bond forged in the face of a possible bereavement.

You will be particularly amazed at this beautiful work of Anu Menon and the whole vibe of the movie with such heavy undertones of life’s impermanence shared with us in a simple yet profound way that even after the movie concludes you are left with this feeling of having been through the turmoil of life and loss of the two characters. This understated slice of life movie is a must watch!

Waiting is too sparsely plotted to realise its ambitions, but Menon, who has co-written the film with James Ruzicka, does raise important questions on the dilemmas faced by the family members of comatose patients. Who decides the treatment methods, and when is it time to stop waiting and move on? A less neat and more rigourously written movie would have waited for the uncomfortable answers to these knotty questions to come less easily.

Anu Menon has done a fine job with this film and has brought to us an emotional journey of two strangers who cross paths in waiting for what life had in store for them and their loved ones. So if you really want watch something meaningful do grab a seat for this one.

Sweet Film With Pseudo End That Ruins Impact…

Eventually, ‘Waiting’ serves a calm and dignified reminder of how the act itself is anything but. It is a fine little film about love, and a kind of anguish that has its own little quirks and half-smiles.