Introduction –
Rubaru has been said to loosely resemble the life of Virginia Woolf. We don’t think so. While this short film revolves around the declining popularity of a screen actress wanting to prove to the audience and herself that she still has it her, Virginia Woolf was known as a feminist critique. She committed suicide by loading her coat pockets with stones and then jumping into the river.
Synopsis –
Coming back to Rubaru, Radha Malhotra ( Tisca Chopra ) is a middle aged actress who’s passed her prime, both in terms of looks and acting prowess. However, the cinders of past success and glory are still burning inside her. Although she’s been taken off a recently assigned project, a stage play offer comes her way which she grabs happily. She looks at it as her span to the lost aureole.
In fact the film opens up with a stage scene where Radha is rehearsing the climax. Nonetheless, the play director ( Arjun Mathur ) stops her. He’s unhappy with her act, her portrayal of a failed writer. He reprimand’s her for her callous performance. Interestingly, the final scene of the play is supposed to end with the writer killing herself with a gun.
On the appointed day, Radha faces emotional upheavals. She parades inside the small dressing room, rehearsing and fighting with her past daemons. Finally, she dresses up, picks up the gun and saunters towards the stage.
Check out the film as we seldom spoil the broth with small or big spoilers.
Analysis –
Direction and cinematography checks all the boxes. Tisca Chopra although plays a key role, and to an extent did a good job, we found her actions in few places a little too overwhelming, especially in the scene just before the play, and inside the dressing room, when she is haunted by aging, self-doubt and gossip. The juxtaposition of Radha as a celebrity individual and as a character in the play with similar adversities should have made things easier for her; instead she carries a loaded gun to pump up her creative juices.
The climax is good, a kind of temporary redemption from death. Deepak Maan, who plays the role of a publisher in the play and Chitrashi Rawat, Tisca’s assistant / PA impressed us with their cameo performances.
2020 Tisca Chopra Tisca Chopra | Namrata Shenoy 18 Minutes YouTube & LargeShortFilms