Photograph
Just like his earlier release, The Lunchbox, filmmaker Ritesh Batra directorial Photograph is set in Mumbai’s fast moving life and chronicles a sentimental story between two shy and timid people, living most of their lives internally and vividly.
Rafiq (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a Mumbai-based battling road picture taker brings home the bacon by working at the Gateway of India. He draws clients by disclosing to them how the daylight in the photo will continue as before and how they will at present hear the voices of individuals around them even a very long time from now.
One fine day, an aspiring chartered-accountant Miloni Shah (Sanya Malhotra) visits the spot and on Rafiq’s persistent persuasion get herself clicked. On the same day Rafiq’s grandma (Farrukh Jaffar) wishes to see him wedded.
And here the plot thickens, Rafiq persuaded Miloni to play his fiancee, Noorie, and meet his grandma.
Photograph is a sentimental and wishful voyage, with characters with going through day-to-day motions, hoping to get struck with some sort of magic, as it happens, magic do take place.
Sanya Malhotra as Miloni/Noorie plays a shy, wistful girl with a vivid inner life and she is sublime on screen to watch! And her voice modulation for the character is something worth noticing and praise.
Nawaz fits the bill for Rafiq, looks like the role was created for the actor and in-return he has crafted it to perfection. The character surpasses his acting aptitudes to pull in regular innocence.
Farrukh Jaffar, whose execution as Dadi is a stunner and her constant bantering with Rafiq about Miloni is just joyful.
Ritesh Batra directorial is an ode to the magical land called Mumbai, capturing beauty in every frame. The universe of Mumbai unfurls gradually and charmingly as if the film is quietly attempting to be a tribute to the city of dreams and the sentimentality it leaks in with.
Photograph is a melancholic outdated romantic tale, which has been told to perfection. Indian cinema is inheriting an impressive pool of talent and sensitivity with the next gen, the film is a classic example of it!
