Renuka Shahane’s debut Hindi film directorial Tribhanga talks about the journey and changing relationship of three central characters, writer Nayantara Apte (Tanvi Azmi), her actress daughter Anu (Kajol) and Anu’s daughter Masha (Mithila Palkar).
Nayantara at one point decides to walk out on her spineless husband, his mother, and her marriage and continue following her passion of writing. The unsettling life that her mother has chosen to lead scars daughter Anu and thus straining their relationship to an almost irreparable stage. Anu ends up being a brash woman with a foul mouth and it is the more traditional-minded Masha who bears the brunt of the eroded relationship.
The film begins at a crucial point when Nayan suffers brain haemorrhage while in the middle of an interview to Milan (Kunaal Roy Kapur), who is helping her write her autobiography. The three women come together soon after, thus starting the forgiveness for the hurts and wounds that have been festering over the years.
The intention is noble. Shahane explores the real issues of parenthood and no matter how wonderful your intentions of rearing your child is, there is nothing called perfect parenting. Also, Shahane’s film is like a reassurance that it is alright to live the life you want, to millions of guilt ridden mothers.
Shahane handles her actresses well. Tanvi Azmi gives a wonderfully sensitive performance in a character that’s well etched. Even though Kajol is bursting with too much energy and is all over the place being herself initially, she manages to mellow down and gets into her character pretty well. Mithila is very good too, only one wishes she got more screen space than she does. Kunaal is either miscast or definitely needs to hone his talent further to fit into a character of this kind.
Even though the story is unique, performances of the lead characters are good, and the execution is pretty solid, there is a kind of awkwardness in the entire film that it seems to be struggling to get rid of. The film also lacks in the dialogue department. Better lines would have perhaps taken this film a notch higher. Even then, this is an interesting directorial debut by Shahane, who is making a brave attempt at delving into a sensitive issue, and hence worth a watch.
Film: Tribhanga
Cast: Kajol, Mithila Palkar, Tanvi Azmi, Kunaal Roy Kapur
Director: Renuka Shahane
Rating: Three and half stars
(The writer is Director - Quest Films/Quest Digital)
