Gargi

DIRECTED BY-:
Gautham Ramachandran
STARRING-:
Sai Pallavi
Kaali Venkat
R.S. Shivaji
YEAR OF RELEASE-:
2022
PREMISE-:
The journey of a young school teacher to prove her father's innocence with the help of a juvenile advocate who's never even seen the interiors of a court hall.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

THE NEGATIVES:

• There were some odd editing and music choices in the first half, which I felt didn’t gel particularly well with the tone of the movie.

• Wouldn’t Indrans get into trouble for not only talking to the victim’s father but also filming his video without consent? Wouldn’t the court also have to verify the legitimacy / authenticity of the video before considering it as evidence? 

• Sandra’s father ACCIDENTALLY reveals VERY crucial information while being drunk. 

• I found it strange that Gargi used a young photograph of her father when verifying with the victim. It was equally strange when the victim correctly identified him in the picture, despite only having seen him as an old man.

THE TWIST ENDING:

Broadly speaking, there are two categories of “twists” which are usually incorporated in movies. One type of twist is where the clues hinting towards the twist are laid out in front of the audience from the beginning, and audience is rewarded for paying close attention to the story, as there is a possibility that any keen eye could join the dots together and figure out the twist. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the movies which utilize these kinds of twists are highly re-watchable, as the audience tends to pick up on new clues each time, and realize just how ignorant they were of something that was apparently so obvious.

Another type of twist, is one where little to no context or clues are provided to support the twist, but they are rather dumped at the audience during the climax. These kinds of twists often feel contrived, unearned, and lazy, because instead of laying all your cards at the table and leaving the rest up to the audience’s intelligence, the director instead intentionally withholds crucial information right until the end, simply for the sake of shock value and making a thematic point. These twists can still make logical sense of course, but they’re almost always bound to feel unsatisfying and abrupt.

So, I was very disappointed to see that this film chose to incorporate the second, inferior, kind of twist in its story. I could appreciate the message being conveyed through that twist, but the way the twist itself was revealed ultimately felt hokey, especially when we were given ample backstory that would directly contradict the very twist. To reiterate, I have no problem with the twist itself, but rather the approach taken to reveal it, as I wish the clues supporting that twist were more evenly spread out in the screenplay.

THE POSITIVES:

• The performances by everyone in the cast were outstanding.

• The background score was very emotional, melancholic and was appropriately used in the screenplay.  

• The cinematography was also excellent. Because of the creative ways the scenes were shot and edited, the film never seemed to drag despite an over 2 hour runtime. 

• For the most part, the characters were written in a simple yet effective and engaging manner. I appreciated the fact that almost every character was given a certain amount of depth and humanizing qualities, which made them feel relatable and authentic. Great dialogues and fantastic performances further made the characters feel more believable and realistic. 

RATING: 6/10