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A textured and tender frame

Kahani toh sab filmon ki same hoti hai… indeed, it is the treatment that is different and makes the difference to the same old ‘boy meets girl’ premise.

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Nonika Singh

Kahani toh sab filmon ki same hoti hai… indeed, it is the treatment that is different and makes the difference to the same old ‘boy meets girl’ premise. And with filmmaker Ritesh Batra, who turns homewards after six years, expect nothing but unusual. Indeed, on the surface the romance between two persons from different worlds is the stuff that Bollywood dreams, nay romance, has always been made of. But when this man and woman, as disparate as chalk and cheese come together in his film the romance that unfurls is the kind you don’t often see on the silver screen. 

Of course, like his much acclaimed The Lunchbox whose aroma lingers till date and which too was a love-story of strangers meeting in most unlikely circumstances, Photograph is not as satisfying. But the textures, undercurrents and poetic resonance are all there. Mumbai and the way his cinematographers (Tim Gillis and Ben Kutchins) capture it is a character in itself. The city that we see in the Photograph is anything but touristy or picturesque; it certainly is one that often escapes not just makers’ eyes but ours too. Ritesh takes us into the world of migrants who come to Mumbai chasing a livelihood only to be caught in the ordinariness of life. That central protagonist Rafi is an ordinary man who takes pictures of people visiting Mumbai’s most iconic site The Gateway of India, there is little doubt. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, playing Rafi, not only lends ordinariness but dignity to his part. Even when shown amidst his impoverished surroundings, he is self-assured and hopeful. Equally poised is Sanya Malhotra as Miloni. Certainly they make an unlikely pair. Why she otherwise a diffident bright girl from an upper middle class background agrees to playact as his beloved might seem a tad unpalatable.

But do relationships/love follow reason or logic? Can’t these be forged across religious divide and chasms? Besides, Batra pays equal attention to not just one facet of human ties. Rafi’s dadi (Farrukh Jaffar) not only brings exuberance to the otherwise languorous play of things but is an important key in the whole process.  

At one level or perhaps at many, Batra pays an ode to times gone by. Songs from yesteryear waft through. Campa Cola that Miloni talks of with a wistfulness is not just another drink but reminiscent of her childhood; a metaphor that could well be a symbol of love as Rafi goes searching for it. Moreover, the film is not named Photograph for sheer convenience or simply from the fact that Rafi is a photographer. Sure photograph is the starting point of their bond that could finally go whichever way. Just as emotions live on our mindscape more than as tangible reality, isn’t photograph a cherished memory that may or may not outlive the real.

 Of course, getting into these layers is not easy. The film’s pace and its inconclusive end may make you yearn for more. If brought up on typical Bollywood fare, which Batra salutes as well as turns its rules upside down by keeping the tone and tenor realistic and minimalistic, Photograph may not fit in your picture frame. However, if you have the patience and the eye to look within its folds, if you care to fathom the evocativeness of gestures and silence, you will be taken in by its quiet and poetic flow. 

nonikasingh@tribunemail.com

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