Goldfish review: Deepti Naval manages to stir your emotions in the 'otherwise' Kalki Koechlin film that suffers from slow narrative!

2/5

Story:
The film deals with the various issues faced by Anamika Fields (Kalki Koechlin) while dealing with an ageing mother Sadhana Tripathi (Deepti Naval) who is suffering from Dementia.

Also Read: GoldFish release date announcement: Kalki Koechlin, Deepti Naval and Rajit Kapur star in Pushan Kripalani's directorial  

Review:
The film starts off with Anamika Fields’ (Kalki Koechlin) ‘verbal letter’ to her Baba (father). The film shows her coming to meet her mother Sadhana Tripathi (Deepti Naval), who is not just growing older by the day, but also suffers from Dementia (where a patient starts forgetting things). Seeing her mother slipping into bad health and that she needs medical attention, Anamika Fields decides to admit her in care-home (the place where they take care of all the medical needs of the elderly patients). One day, Anamika gets a shock of her life when she discovers that her mother has willed the entire property in the name of Ashwin Raina (Rajit Kapoor). Thereafter, Anamika starts tracking Ashwin Raina in order to find out all the details about him. In case of emergencies, Anamika rushes Laxmi, who happens to be 'now-on-now-of’' friend of Sadhana. As the film progresses, Sadhana tells about Laxmi’s shocking past to Anamika.

Amidst all this, Anamika makes it very clear to Ashwin that she wants the entire will in her name. Even though reluctant at first (in the interest of Sadhana), but, gradually, he gives in to Anamika Fields’ demand and transfers the will in her name, but on one condition. What is the condition which Ashwin keeps before Anamika Fields, what is the reason of Laxmi’s sudden death, does Anamika Fields end up admitting her ageing mother in the care home is what forms the rest of the film.

Also Read: Kalki Koechlin on Goldfish world premiere at BIFF: It feels great to see the audience engaged in a movie that’s been a labour of love 

There have been many films which have dealt with Dementia as the premise. Films like ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara’, ‘Mai’, ‘Black’, ‘U, Me Aur Hum’ in Bollywood and a few others in regional languages stand as testimony to this. This is probably the first time an Indian film maker has shot a film dealing with Dementia on foreign shores.

The film’s first half is extremely slow. It takes a long time as a viewer to understand the different characters and their respective roles in the film. The pace in the film’s first half definitely tests your patience as a viewer. Comparatively, the film’s second half picks up the pace and makes up for the losses.

Dialogues:

In a film like this, one cannot expect any punches or ‘seeti-maar’ dialogues from the characters. But, much to everyone’s surprise, this film does have a handful of such moments and one-liners. Since the film is primarily in English, it may not appeal to the Hindi speaking audiences. In a world that’s infested with AI and likes, a film like this will assumingly struggle to find its place amongst the audience.

Performances:
As for the performances, even though it’s primarily a Kalki Koechlin film, it is actually Deepti Naval who shoulders the film like a boss! She really deserves to be applauded for delivering such a remarkable performance. There is not even a single scene where one does not find her convincing as a Dementia patient. This is followed by Kalki Koechlin, who is in her usual elements. Those who are expecting her to do a role like ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ and ‘Gully Boy’ in ‘Goldfish’, will be sorely disappointed. Rajit Kapur is in his usual element. Other actors like Bharti Patel, Ravin J Ganatra, Gordon Warnecke do their best to carry the film forward.

Direction and editing:

The film’s director Pushan Kriplani, who had won an award for ‘The Threshold’ at the prestigious ‘Washington DC South Asian Film Festival’, fails to repeat the award-winning magic with ‘Goldfish’. Amongst the many loopholes in the film, one does feel that the real reason for Kalki and Deepti Naval’s characters to hate each other seems half-boiled. the connection between the film's title (Goldfish) and the film's narrative seems very vague. The film suffers from bad editing (Pradip Patil), which literally disconnects the audience from the ongoing narrative.

Background music:

Barring a few scenes, the film’s music (Tapas Relia) does no good to the film’s narrative. There are times when the ‘background music’ lands up being much louder than the film’s characters mouthing their dialogues. The film’s cinematography (Pushan Kriplani) does not have much to do as the entire story revolves around one location.

Verdict:

All in all, ‘Goldfish’ might struggle at the box-office because of its niche plot and also because of the minimal number of cinema lovers of this particular genre of filmmaking.