This is experimental stuff. To a
cinema wedded to formulae, length, violence and huge family tales this film
singularly is a departure from each, all and every that makes Telugu cinema.
May be it is not, in the strict sense a Telugu film. Probably you may classify
it among the makeover films.
Yet another interesting aspect of the film is its duration. It lasts all but an
hour and a tad more. This is truly the undoing of the film. In an attempt at
cost cutting and saving on raw stock, the debutant director rushes with the
narration. Worse still are some chosen characters who are amateur, if not
embarrassing. Just at a time when Bollywood is celebrating male bonding the
youthful lady filmmaker (Shital Morjaria) delves with female bonding. In fact
she pushes the envelope further and deals albeit at a very peripheral level the
complex emotions of a gay person.
Three girls meet at a film institute to undergo a one-month course in film appreciation.
A course much needed to the average cine-goer in the country. Trisha (Iantha
Mitchell), Vaijanthi (Sagari Venkata) and Nidhi (Sampada Harkara) meet up and
instantly bond despite initial irritants. Instead of establishing the
individual characters like a Farhan or a sibling Zoya would do. The characters
here are edged in single line and are unacceptably unipolar. Trisha is the most
fun loving and boisterous of the threesome. She bonds well with her father, a
single parent. Nidhi’s fiancé is Tiger who she would want to marry in spite of
being discouraged by her doting dad. Vaijanthi has come out for the course
without informing her middle-class parents who do not approve of a career in
cinema and consequently of any course on film appreciation. In a moment of rare
defiance Vaijanthi comes to the institute. Nidhi is the impatient, gender
aggressive one. She too is the product of a single parent. Her lawyer mother,
years ago, had walked out on her abusive, violent spouse. Irritant by
temperament and often impatient she snaps but quickly makes up.
The script invests little in drawing any logical premise to the behaviour of
the said characters. Dealing with the life of Vaijanthi it’s about how she
revolts finally against her orthodox parents and demanding fiancé. The story
reveals rather sketchily why Trisha is eager to get married and how she lives
to review the call. Nidhi is the central character. Hesitant to declare her
sexual preference and irritated with a straightjacket world, she reflects angst
against stereotypes. Given her challenge she is required to come to turns with
herself as also with the normal social norms. However, in the company of her
newfound friends, she boldly declares that she is gay. She also takes her mom
into confidence. She loves a lady but refuses to reveal who her ladylove is.
Needless to point out it is a graceful lady of our cinema.
The director should surely be complimented for daring a one-hour experimental
film. However, it lacks the punch that 7 Days in Slow Motion presented. The
cinema-centric story could do with some more drama and a degree of cinematic
conflict. The script relies unduly upon its three principle characters. While
Sagari Venkata is a typical Telugu film actress – good looks and ready to sob,
Iantha Mitchell is all bubbly but straight on the sets without a modicum of
training. She will do well to move from the film appreciation course to a
course in acting if this is her honest career choice. Sampada Harkara as Nidhi
shows far more promise than the rest. The script could have been better edged.
One gets a strong feeling that the film is an undergrad’s project work and on
that count could be a winner. At a professional level it leaves a lot more to
be desired but still deserves kudos for the dare and the heterodoxy.
L. Ravichander.