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Home » Features » Three Of Us – Avinash Arun’s love affair with silence and the quest for ‘Udgam’ (origin) ft. Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat and Swanand Kirkire

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Three Of Us – Avinash Arun’s love affair with silence and the quest for ‘Udgam’ (origin) ft. Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat and Swanand Kirkire

Three of Us on Netflix could be the most tender yet haunting display of reminiscence in recent times; don't miss it.

Shubham Kulkarni

Jan 06, 2024

Three Of Us BTS Still

There is a certain wilderness of emotions that only a few creative people can tap into with their art. It is a space of absolute mess but also the most comfortable place. It houses demons and angels, forming your past together. With his cinema, Avinash Arun intends to take all of us there every single time. He is not bothered about the noise; he wants to introduce you to those silences where the actual conversation happens. Three of Us is a step in the same direction where the quest for roots, ‘udgam,’ doesn't just mean reminiscing but also finding redemption.

Some films are delicate and fragile. Handle with care is the tagline written all over them, and the new Arun directorial now streaming on Netflix is an unsettling bag of emotions and that bag is made of glass; you never know where it bangs and the cracks open wide. A woman forgets everything that makes her; in the moment, she decides to go back to the place that shaped her, the tragedy that shattered her, and the man whom she left behind. It is almost like the last lullaby before the world goes blank; a void strikes hard, and it is just dead silence with no voice on the other side of the tunnel.

Avinash Arun writes Three of Us in the Silence before the final goodbye and even shapes the movie just like that. What is life? If it is memories, your mind stores all of them. What will be left if the mind is blank and the ability to remember is gone? A functioning body is like a robot. Shailaja (Shefali Shah) is living her last moments as a human being, finding her roots and going back to her origin. The chaos in her eyes to store as much as she can and the content awareness that no matter what she will end up forgetting is haunting, and when it's Shefali enacting it with her blessed eyes, the heart is shattered.

Also Read: Three Of Us OTT release date – When and where to watch Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Swanand Kirkire’s moving drama

More than Shefali and her hunt for redemption, Three of Us is about the two partners witnessing two lovers meet and convey their emotions one last time. For Pradeep (Jaideep Ahlawat), his wife Sarika is the most delicately written woman in this world. Her jealousy comes out of playfulness, but what is at the forefront is her respect for his past and her belief that he won't break her trust. He is moved by seeing his childhood love after three decades, but that doesn't move him away from his wife. Their bond is strong enough to withstand this current. Jaideep Ahlawat's masterclass performance as he blends into the setup makes this trajectory even more moving. He is a man who finds back his poetry but is also aware that the inspiration is supposed to be temporary.

For Dipankar, it is a constant battle with his head that he couldn't make her smile like an angel for 28 years, but Pradip did in 5 days. Sarika and Dipankar are as much an audience as us but even more helpless. Swanand Kirkire does the minimum and creates the maximum attempt. The film is not about the shock value, even at the highest note. It is telling you to embrace it and let it weep so these lovers can find their redemption.

What touches hearts more about Three of Us is the fact that Shailaja might be battling dementia, but that is not the villain here. Rather, she is finding herself away from the responsibilities that have become her pronouns. She is no mother here, no wife—certainly not the woman of the house—but a human connecting to her beginning before oblivion hits her hard. No one sees her as a patient because the script never lets anyone do that. Because it is supposed to be a soul returning to its origin and not a patient fulfilling her final wish.

Three of Us is not about those big moments; it is about its silence and details. Shailaja picking up a flower from Sarika's hand and placing it in her hair is the formation of a bond. Shailaja and Pradeep finally speaking their hearts out while hanging on a Ferris wheel is symbolic of their relationship, which has neither the sky nor the ground; it's unsettled but still beautiful for the two people living it. Avinash has used his cinematographer's mind to make this all work.

The tender aftertaste of Three of Us is that of reminiscence and a person trying to pack as much as one can but only to realise the bag is torn. In one moment, Shailaja is asked what a photograph means; she said, "Drawing of light." But what if the canvas is torn? Where do you draw? How do you make sure the drawing finds its wall? Three of Us is on a quest for that wall. Let's find ours before it's too late.

Also Read: Three Of Us, Goldfish, to Kohrra – 10 underrated Hindi films and shows of 2023

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