Watched at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
Indian cinema is interesting because I'm not really a fan of the traditional Bollywood genre. But anytime when Indie Indian art house movies come to light, I'm very intrigued to check them out.
Neeraj Ghaywan captures a heartbreaking and warming tale about friendship, the struggles of the caste system and the ongoing conflicts between the culture and barriers the characters are established in. Ghaywan's previous movie Masaan was pretty good and with this new movie, he continues to capture the atmosphere, and the realistic nature of the societal environment of India and it's political working class setting perfectly. Ghaywan portray of the two main characters was interesting as the characters are well-written and engaging to observe. As if you are wanting to see what their struggles, goals and compassion they are wanting to succeed towards. To top it off, the performances are pretty good as the chemistry and charm between the two leads were emotional and engaging.
Alongside with the good camerawork, production, colors and the sound designs, the narrative offers some interesting concepts and moments throughout. While at times, some of the writing does feel a bit cliched and certain emotional aspects does lean a little too much towards some of the cheesy aspects about Indian cinema. The majority of its dialogue and emotional weight remains successful.
I do enjoy some of the social class themes and a good tale about friendship as it's always interesting to observe, when it's done right of course. Overall, it's a good story and emotional to observe.
