Last Man In Tower movie review: Based on Arvind Adiga’s 2011 novel Last Man In Tower, Ben Rekhi’s film of the same name keeps its focus on the main thrust: shark-like developers swooping in on the crumbling parts of Mumbai, swatting aside low-stakes initial reluctance with the promise of fancy high rises.

The last man in the way of builder-tycoon Dharmen Shah’s (Boman Irani) rapacious intention is retired teacher Yogesh Murthy (Manoj Bajpayee), who just wants to live out the remaining of his life in familiar surroundings, in a flat which houses the memories of his dead wife.

The movie adaptation is written by Sooni Taraporevala, who brings to it an insider knowledge of an old Bombay hand who has seen it turn into Mumbai. The residents of Vishram Society embody the remnants of a city that used to be, multi-religious, cutting across class, democratic at its core, increasingly under siege: the name of the building is an irony that writes itself, with the 95-minute run-time giving us a snapshot view of friends-and-neighbours turning upon each other.

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Even those who haven’t read the book will know how this will end, because projects called Shanghai (remember Dibakar Banerji’s film of the same name, which promised an India turning into shining China?) have no hesitation in stream-rolling over those stand in the way: Bajpayee’s Masterji is a quietly stubborn but dignified presence, who will remind you of elderly men desperate to cling on to their comfort zone.

Of the pro-and-anti gang, to be found in the Vishram compound arguing with each other, or gossiping over chai, there’s the old couple Mr and Mrs Pinto, as well as single mother Mrs Rego, all of whom ‘side’ with Masterji in the beginning: of the others, Mrs Puri (Divya Dutta), mother to a special child, is amongst the quickest to abdicate.

What’s nice is that the film doesn’t villianise the residents willing to flip over, or the handful of nay-sayers: we see why Mrs Puri is so keen to be part of the change, as well as the reasons why Masterji, who affectionately watches over Mrs Puri’s son, is so resistant, even if it will give his own son (Sukant Goel) the financial fillip the latter wants.

Bajpayee is the unbending moral centre of the film, a role he gravitates towards with practised ease. This is Divya Dutta’s second stand-out role in 2026, after Chiraiyaa. Irani seems to have an affinity for rapacious builders, made softer here than his ‘party-ho-ya-broker’ in Khosla Ka Ghosla, Banerji ‘s memorable outing about ordinary people and their housing woes.

 

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What I missed though is the satirical edge of the novel, and the tone leads to blandness, even as the film leaves us with that thorny question: the cold sterility of a brand new high-rise, or the familiar seediness of the old?

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Last Man In Tower movie cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Divya Dutta, Sukant Goel, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Harish Khanna, Swaroopa Ghosh, Darshan Jariwala


Last Man In Tower movie director: Ben Rekhi


Last Man In Tower movie rating: 2.5 stars