Director: Pushan Kripalani
Cast: Kalki Koechlin, Deepti Naval, Rajit Kapur and others
Where: In (selective) theatres near you
Rating: 3 stars
Tea at 4?— that’s what the mother-daughter bonded on, gazing the sunshine through their white painted glass window, holding hands of each other and listening to Indian classical melody playing on a vintage cassette player, this is what sums up filmmaker Pushan Kripalani’s 100-minute world of Goldfish.
Set at a cosy house in a narrow leafy street of London, Goldfish narrates a story of Ana/Anamika Fields (Kalki), who visits her ailing mother Sadhana Tripathi (Deepti Naval), who is suffering from severe Alzheimers and how their bitter relationship transforms into a magical one — Ana’s buried hatred for her mother Sadhana is the core of it.
Ashwin Raina (Rajit Kapur) runs a grocery store in the vicinity and helps Sadhana for daily chores along with Tilly, Laxmi, Andy (Sadhana’s music student) and others.
Pushan creates his own little sweet world with flawed characters and manages to pull his indie tone film quite well. Such films have their own vibe attached to it, but they also test patience on their own terms. Goldfish’s assumed first half (didn’t witness an interval) has enough pauses, silences and downtime moments. Since the entire film flows through Kalki's English narration (talking to her dead father), you will see the blank screen with subtitles popping out a zillion times that can be troublesome a bit.
The beauty of Goldfish lies beneath its characters and their interpersonal alliances but Pushan’s narrative, where people are dying and falling apart, is a slow burner and painful affair. There was absolutely nothing to engage with the screenplay formerly but Goldfish shines only when Ana and Sadhana develop a warm camaraderie over tea at four.
Deepti Naval is a special actor and Goldfish is a great testimonial to her craftsmanship. Her breakdowns, laughter and banter with her on-screen daughter are so natural — one would ought to be proud of her portrayal. Kalki is convincing and real as Anamika. Her descent plays an integral part to play this role with ease. Rest of the cast are okay in their blink-and-miss roles.
The film is lyrically rich and the credit goes to Kausar Munir for penning such thoughtful words and painting the director’s dull subject.
Pushan’s Goldfish is strictly not for everyone. It perhaps targets only English speaking audiences situated in the metros, with a 15-screen release all over, it is evident too. However, it might make a one time Sunday lazy watch on OTT.
