Being a fan of the genre, sometimes makes it tougher form some one to make you feel for something new in it. I'm a die hard fan of Raymond Chandler, Andrew Vasch, Andrea Camilleri, Henning Mankell, Ian Rankin and so many more crime writers. And i'm a fan of women centric films and drama. And this film took both to a beautiful level. To make you feel for each individual character, their frustrations, their predicaments, their choices and yet leave you pondering whether they chose their fate or it was handed down to them through blind luck, is something a noir film ideally is meant to do. Akin to 'August Heat' or 'Farewell my lovely' or 'The Big Sleep' this story does the same. It ends up being a story of three people, the woman as seductress, the woman as life companion, the man trying to understand himself and be what society considers a man. It plays with archetypes and does a spin on them, yet then landing them firmly in their archetypal foundation again.
Even small touches like the wife and her mother's relationship, she's also a half product of her lineage and half product of who she wants to be, battling her own demons, quietly and then vociferously. She's the one i felt for the most. Great casting. Sonali Kulkarni earned a fan yet again, so did Sai and Girish. And the mother in law. Small nuances or each character. And big bold strokes for the story.
You would be forced to consider each one's choices, each one's luck, and whether they are or were a product of their choices or luck or which one in what degree.
Filmically the choice of hand-held camera-work, showing the woman as seductress backed by light, but with shadows on her face, the woman as creator backed by darkness but with light on her face and yet them being shades of each other and one and the same, some small but striking metaphors came through.
Great edit. Cuts on sound, cuts on music, cuts that evoke emotion, push it up where needed and cut it down where needed. Artistic job done by the makers, director, writer, cinematographer and Editor.
A gem of a marathi film. A gem of a film.
Curious to see what Mahajan does next, in a similar drama genre.
