Introduction –
We’ve all heard about “Cinematic Liberty”, “Fiction Freedom” and the likes of such expressions. We believe Photograph has taken these terms to a different level altogether. The film is flawed cinematically and the reason why it stutters, jerks back to life and then gasps for breath before falling into the abyss of deafening silence. Although the basic premise has the potential, the same is somehow lost due to preset, concretized vision and shackled to a particular filmmaking technique / genre.
Synopsis –
“Slow burn” romance is quite popular in the world of books and in the bygone era. However, it has little relevance in today’s fast paced life where cinephiles suffer from short attention span. Photograph, is one such film which revolves around Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a photographer who clicks tourists at the Gateway of India for thirty rupees. A chance meeting with Miloni (Sanya Malhotra), an introvert teenager changes Rafi’s life forever.
Rafi’s Dadi ( Farrukh Jafar ) is on a hunger strike because Rafi refuses to marry. She gives him an ultimatum. Rafi writes back to her saying that he’s already in love and the name of the girl is Noorie. He then slips Miloni’s unsold photograph in the envelope. All is good till Dadi decides to visit Rafi in Mumbai … to check out the girl herself.
The news pushes Rafi on to the streets, in search of Miloni.
After a prolonged hunt he traces her through an education ( Classes ) billboard. Miloni has topped CA foundation and now preparing for her Intermediate / Final exams. Rafi requests Miloni to feign as his girlfriend, till his Dadi’s stay in the city. Surprisingly, Miloni has no objection … not even a word of resistance or clarification. Why would a brilliant teenager about to become a certified auditor interact with a socially / financially backward protagonist of different faith and double her age? The fact is he technically stalked her for days.
Analysis –
Although the cinematography shines in some places, it simply fails in many scenes. Frequent blurring, unnecessary long shots, extended focusing on props / objects which make little contribution in driving the film further or generating newer emotions are some of our peeves. The story is mainly driven by expressions and therefore camera movement is inevitable which incidentally leads to jarring.
While Nawazuddin Siddiqui somehow manages to express his feelings and his nervousness with controlled flair and élan, Sanya Malhotra seemed stuck with just a single expression. What irritated us was Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s frequent sulking, especially when it came to eye contact. Finally, the open-ended plot didn’t really cut. Either way, the culmination offers no creative twist. We do feel that the “Campa Cola” angle could have been creatively exploited to thicken the plot and also to bring the story to an intriguing end.
2019 Ritesh Batra Ritesh Batra 108 Minutes Amazon Prime Video