Tribhanga is almost Terrific

 

You know something special is happening when you see excellence in continuity in outdoor shots. A daughter waits for her mother in a security queue and the camera seamlessly moves to another angle beyond the gate without skipping a beat or a detail, a nurse asking Kajol to be silent or to come and help with sponging her mom, two nurse exchange medical statistics in the background without sounding nonsensical. The point being there appears to be a director herself the writer as well who has been so sensitive to what happens around and recreates with exceptional sensitivity and accuracy.

Powerful women obviously populate the landscape of the story of three generations of liberal women who chase their dream, nurse grudges against each other and yet cannot stop debating over the degree of their love for each other.

What is satisfying is that people are real and there are no attempts to whitewash their guilt lines to make it palatable and since it is an OTT channel someone must have advised the director to go the Mirzapur way and feel free with the MCs and BCs of the world.  While it was innovative to hear Kajol’s character go free with the abuses, it becomes jarring when subsequently she uses the characterisation more to impress than to imply natural behaviour. It is something that should not have been in your face and could have worked brilliantly. Not mouth a dialogue and wait for the applause on usage.

No parent is perfect and more importantly creative mothers   who neglect their children at the altar of their own pursuits. It does become difficult to believe though that the mother did not realise the younger one going through sexual abuses at home. Makes for one careless mother and one who does not warrant being forgiven.

Tanvi is the mother. a great writer with a weak husband, a disagreeable but caring mother-in-law with who she falls out with and leads to further disenchantment in the family leading to multiple divorces and children becoming a victim of that. Will they too turn out like their parents is what fills up the rest of the storyline replete with lot of vignettes to justify the characters behaviour.

Kajol is in her space as an actress dancer and has been obviously given a free hand to re imagine K3G heroine now the mother of a married daughter (Mithila a natural actress thought with limited scope in the screenplay). Interesting characters like Kajol’s brother, or the biographer (Kunal Roy) dot the landscape hoping to help move the plot forward. But it plods at times.

What keeps it moving though are the definite impressive performances by the lead cast and Kajol stamps back why she is the most spontaneous actress in the country today.

Some jarring elements perhaps obfuscating the realistic grittiness of the relationships like the daughter suddenly nursing some grouse with her mom to trigger the plot device for the mother to go soft on her own grudge. It is confusing because the daughter has been effusive in her praise for her mother’s sense of purpose in being possessive about her and at the same time accusing her of being non-chalant about her daughter’s security needs. The daughter indicates she follows a more modern all-embracing religion and in contradiction makes sure to be completely immersed in her traditional orthodox patriarchal family where the head goes “we want your daughter. that’s all” (heave a sigh of relief. No dowry story here. This angle is not explored enough with the frisbee of a story line flying back to the central character).  There is also the case of the missing internet signal on the computer – just could not take my eyes of the cross on the internet signal – thought not sure if it were required for the upload at that point 😊. A fly flies into the ICU of a posh hospital almost like meant to justify the line that followed.

 But then you forgive everything when you notice how the actors are invested in the film. Watch Kajol as she pushes away her daughter for not being able to unlock her necklace or when she meets her brother or handles her coma-stricken mother for the first time or when she wonders why her friend is such a nice person.

While we do not expect anything less than stupendous from Kajol and expert delivery from stalwarts Tanvi and Mithila, it is the deft handling with eye for detail from Renuka Shahane that gets our applause.

It is heart-warming that actor directors are coming up with sensitive projects and none better than actors as they know what it takes from inside to be a Tribhanga.