I really liked this movie. I was probably the only one that felt this way, but it really felt like the 2 hours flew by. This is not a plot heavy film, but still I found a lot of substance. I thought that Prabhu was so interesting and compelling
spoilers
Prabhu- This is a married woman that barely knows her husband (through arranged marriage). Her husband lives in Germany and they haven’t talked in over a year. She’s yearning for intimacy, love and all she finds is a shiny red rice cooker in his place. She’s surrounded by Anu, a young girl who is in love, while her parents are looking to set her up for marriage; Dr Manoj, a man who has feelings for Prabhu; and Parvaty, an older lady who is on the brink of being forgotten. All three characters brought out the complexity and depth in Prabhu. Anu is a stark contrast of who Prabhu is, a daring girl who’s dating a muslim boy who Anu’s parents will certainly disapprove of. While Prabhu does deeply care for Anu, she lashes out at her in what comes out as jealousy. All the while, she has her own suitor, Dr Manoj, and while there is some slight interest from her side, she shoots down any attempts of anything happening because of her loyalty to her husband. Parvaty is this older lady that Prabhu is trying to help keep her house despite Parvaty not having any documentation that she owns the place. Parvaty represents who Prabhu is becoming— lost papers, a missed call, forgotten.
This film is based in Mumbai and man were the shots so beautiful. I loved all the colors and there was definitely some emphasis on the color blue. I loved the text message scenes between Anu and her boyfriend with such cool shots in the backdrop. The shots also really captured Prabhu’s loneliness even in a city with millions of people. I really liked the poem like dialogue that accompanied many of these shots too.
Anyways, all 3 characters go to Parvaty’s village. Here, we see the acceptance of Parvaty moving on from Mumbai, the realization of the sexual anticipation between Anu and her boyfriend, and Prabhu finally letting go of her own husband and moving on. There’s a lot to talk about in the village scenes imo— the “husband” coming up on the shore, Prabhu’s growth and acceptance of Anu and her relationship, but i won’t go into too much detail. Overall, I thought the third act did a great job and I especially liked the weird hallucination husband part.
This is probably the first Indian film I’ve scene like this and it makes me very excited for what more is to come from Indian cinema. I definitely think there are some parts of this that may be hard to understand if you are not too familiar with Indian culture— the dynamics of arranged marriages, sexuality from a female perspective in India, the switching of languages (and the Malayalam connection between some of the characters), but frankly I appreciate that choice even though this film was arguably made for a more western audience. Overall I really connected to this movie, and I really enjoyed it.
I really liked this movie. I was probably the only one that felt this way, but it really felt like the 2 hours flew by. This is not a plot heavy film, but still I found a lot of substance. I thought that Prabhu was so interesting and compelling
spoilers
Prabhu- This is a married woman that barely knows her husband (through arranged marriage). Her husband lives in Germany and they haven’t talked in over a year. She’s yearning for intimacy, love and all she finds is a shiny red rice cooker in his place. She’s surrounded by Anu, a young girl who is in love, while her parents are looking to set her up for marriage; Dr Manoj, a man who has feelings for Prabhu; and Parvaty, an older lady who is on the brink of being forgotten. All three characters brought out the complexity and depth in Prabhu. Anu is a stark contrast of who Prabhu is, a daring girl who’s dating a muslim boy who Anu’s parents will certainly disapprove of. While Prabhu does deeply care for Anu, she lashes out at her in what comes out as jealousy. All the while, she has her own suitor, Dr Manoj, and while there is some slight interest from her side, she shoots down any attempts of anything happening because of her loyalty to her husband. Parvaty is this older lady that Prabhu is trying to help keep her house despite Parvaty not having any documentation that she owns the place. Parvaty represents who Prabhu is becoming— lost papers, a missed call, forgotten.
This film is based in Mumbai and man were the shots so beautiful. I loved all the colors and there was definitely some emphasis on the color blue. I loved the text message scenes between Anu and her boyfriend with such cool shots in the backdrop. The shots also really captured Prabhu’s loneliness even in a city with millions of people. I really liked the poem like dialogue that accompanied many of these shots too.
Anyways, all 3 characters go to Parvaty’s village. Here, we see the acceptance of Parvaty moving on from Mumbai, the realization of the sexual anticipation between Anu and her boyfriend, and Prabhu finally letting go of her own husband and moving on. There’s a lot to talk about in the village scenes imo— the “husband” coming up on the shore, Prabhu’s growth and acceptance of Anu and her relationship, but i won’t go into too much detail. Overall, I thought the third act did a great job and I especially liked the weird hallucination husband part.
This is probably the first Indian film I’ve scene like this and it makes me very excited for what more is to come from Indian cinema. I definitely think there are some parts of this that may be hard to understand if you are not too familiar with Indian culture— the dynamics of arranged marriages, sexuality from a female perspective in India, the switching of languages (and the Malayalam connection between some of the characters), but frankly I appreciate that choice even though this film was arguably made for a more western audience. Overall I really connected to this movie, and I really enjoyed it.
5
