CAST :Neha Sharma, Namit Das, Amit Sial, Deepak Dobriyal, Illa Arun
DIRECTED BY: INDRAJIT NATTOJI
BLUF:
ZEE5’s new original film ‘Aafat-E-Ishq‘ is an adaptation of the award-winning Hungarian film Liza, the Fox-Fairy. It is an idiosyncratic fantasy dark comedy about a naive 30-year-old, Lallo (Neha Sharma), who wants to find the love of her life before she grows too old to marry.
Her only confidant is a ghost named Aatma (Namit Das). But it is when she picks up a book titled ‘Laal Pari’ from a bookstore that strange events begin to happen in her life. Men with even a passing interest in her drop-dead around her making the cops suspicious of her.
‘Aafat-E-Ishq’ is produced by Zee Studios, directed by Indrajit Nattoji, and written by Neha Bahuguna.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
Aafat-E-Ishq’ is a definitive hybrid genre at new-age storytelling making it difficult for us to fit it into a box. The beauty of such an inventive narrative is that it brings a new age story making to the forefront of Indian cinema. This one is for history.
There is nothing run-off- the- mill here so a lot of traditional critics will find it hard to digest yet the adaptation of a Hungarian story to a small-town Indian format is the brilliance of the plot. The writing is superb. The screenplay was a bit cheesy but fit into the small-town India format well. After all, let’s not expect sophisticated language from these characters that are so well-caricatured into the backdrop of Lallo’s quest for love.
The men who even remotely find Lallo interesting find themselves dead in the most mysterious ways and as an audience, you keep your hopes in suspended animation lest someone survives her.
Why it all happens is the reveal of the movie and for that, you have to watch this entertaining novel spectacle.
IN THE KNOW
There are many characters in the plot and the time and pace may not at times do justice to their character arcs but we know what we know about them as Lallo does. It is a fantasy underwritten characters, their traits, and what drives them.
The musical aspect brings forth a certain frivolous lightheartedness to the characters which can build a case against overthinking their motives or backstories.
Neha Sharma’s performance as the gullible, inexperienced girl is convincing and unpretentious and she excels in keeping the tempo through the narrative without a flinch., Deepak Dobriyal’s role as a detective is an absolute delight to watch. Namit Das both in his muted and speech avatars is perfectly cast. Amit Sial as the debonair playboy is most compelling and his versatility as an actor is on full display. Ila Arun and Darshan Jariwala fit into their cameo roles effortlessly.
‘Aafat-E-Ishq’ cannot fit into one genre. Assessing the movie technically will only increase critics’ respect for the team behind the scenes who made such a marvelous story possible while shooting in the middle of a pandemic. The film is paced, and extremely cleverly executed.
Director of Photography Shreya Gupta’s camerawork is sharp. We loved some superior angle shots that added a lot of depth to the layered narrative. Gaurav Chatterjee’s background score is average. The songs are forgettable. Shad Mohammed’s editing is fine.
WHAT WE LOVED
Neha Sharma
Cinematography, camera work, and direction is good
WHAT WE MISSED
Undefined character arcs
