Cast: Ehan Bhat, Edilsy Vargas, Manisha Koirala, Lisa Ray, Ranjit Barot, Rahul Ram
Director: Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy
BLUF: A young pianist who failed in love, has the challenge of creating a lot of music to impress the father of a mute girl that he wants to marry. Despite the obstacles, an ensemble side cast, brilliant cinematographers, the script constrains the growth of the plot.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
There are too many unanswered questions in this plot. The anathema for the plot and its loopholes are Rahman’s songs. Jay is a young man whose father has ordained him to keep off the music because it destroyed his family; Edilsy Vargas is Sophie Singhania, a wealthy businessman’s speech-impaired daughter who is in love with Jay. Though the girl’s father (Ranjit Barot) is in awe of the boy’s talent but is not approving of her decision of marrying “a struggling musician” so he asks Jay to go compose 100 songs before he can come back and ask for her hand in marriage by relocating to Shillong to write the songs with his friend Polo. The musical genes of the young man inherited from his mother help him create the songs he has to for his love.
IN THE ZONE
The high point of the story may be its simplicity if only there were more of a story in the psychology of Jay as a protagonist. The movie focuses more on the surface of the story which completely misses the soul of a possible narrative that could have lent a story to the brilliant movie which instead remains an amalgamation of hypnotic musical compositions with a wafer-thin story.
FWAR
Ehan Bhat has a weak screen presence. Latina actress Edilsy Vargas does not have any lines to deliver. Tenzin Dalha as Polo gives his best shot and makes a strong impression. Lisa Ray as a Jazz singer who croons her grief into her voice leaves not much of a performance. Manisha Koirala in the rehab center fails to tangibly make her presence felt.
The overreliance on fractured flashbacks hinders the entire flow of the screenplay and overshadows the storytelling.
The movie is all about its music. The music is the movie.
WHAT WE LOVED
The brilliant music and the visuals
WHAT WE MISSED
The story
