WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW
First, the Recap:
I would hope to state that in any relationship, especially a marriage, being honest and transparent with one’s partner is integral to the ideal harmony and trust required, keeping things on the level and consistently founded on mutually shared love. Yet, as people, we seem to have a rather nasty habit of choosing to keep certain things unrevealed, thinking somehow we can manage to get by, even as it weighs on us the more time that passes. When this becomes overwhelming, the potential disaster that awaits can be even more devastating and surprising than it already would have been. For one married couple, Jyogesh (Aakash Ahuja) and Jyotika (Rupali Rahul), this will be all too clear as they attempt to navigate a decidedly unsettled union. But, when Jyogesh tries a certain means to bring a little spice back to their marriage, what he will end up discovering will drastically alter their future forever.
Next, my Mind:
Completely unscrupulous, manipulative (playfully and seriously so), and candidly overconfident attitude clashes with the specter of a long-standing, well-hidden, and soon-to-be-revealed secret that will emphatically change two individual’s life paths and their arranged marriage in this 20-minute South Asian short film effort from writer/director/producer Geet Gangwani which puts the concept of wishing to start a family quite definitively on hold–at least within the current state of affairs. It’s a comedic foundation that is tempered with the seriousness of marital honesty that’s been direly mistreated for what we assume has been a decent amount of time, and the deconstruction of said relationship soon gets the focus from both a shared and personal viewpoint as the events depicted unfold, hurtling towards a conclusion that will shake everything up with relentless and compelling impact.
Centered on a couple who have been a part of a cultural tradition–arranged marriage–and the trials they are experiencing in attempting to have a family while they both have their own degrees of inner struggles to navigate through, the majority of the film’s narrative is played out primarily with humorous intention while also delving into the dramatic facets of two people seemingly trying to reconnect when there could be another agenda lurking underneath it all. It’s a showcasing of how couples live together, disagree, fight, face the frustrations, and then one choosing to make amends through something they know the other desires (FOOD!) in hopes of (in typical male fashion of course, right??) “smoothing things over” and moving forward. Plus, the manner in which the narrative illustrates the couple apart, one with basic “I-know-it-all” arrogance and the other overwhelmed by an unspoken guilt, how it all comes to a head is pure genius in many respects.
The finale is one for the ages in its very creative execution (and its unexpected setting!) that puts the entire notion of the accidental phone call overheard and “you’ve been served” into an entirely new realm of context, assuredly cementing the film’s ultimate purpose convincingly and, frankly, unapologetically. It’s a thematic lesson in how we THINK we know someone SO well and then find out it may not at ALL be the case, much less delivering a portrait of how we take advantage of others (whether by design or inadvertently…well, here, mostly by design!), our tendency to not want to confront our own faults but rather shift blame instead, always wanting the easy way out, glossing things over rather than truly working for more constructive resolution, and just being resistant to actually LISTEN to one’s partner when things that need said, well, NEED to come out but get quashed due to our own ignorance or avoidance of the circumstances.
These underlying elements all have their due within the narrative, at least this critic felt, and it provides the film with that aforementioned atmosphere of laughs and drama so that we’re fully entertained, but also left with plenty to ponder in the aftermath of our smiles and chuckles. The film’s visual approach, like much of independent cinema, is straightforward, uncomplicated, and to the point, with the camera following the characters at distance and close-up in a way that accentuates the situations we see wonderfully and clearly. There’s always been what I feel is a unique sense of reality that South Asian film chooses to utilize for their projects, and that may sound a tad cryptic, but all I know is that even given this film’s premise, it felt totally relatable. That, in general, is an ongoing hallmark of indie film that I gravitate to time and time again.
Ahuja brings the best of playing a complete and utter cad, portraying the undeniably engaging and jocular yet (whimsically) annoying demeanor of a man who thinks he’s “all that” to a “T” through his role as Jyogesh, a FAR too big for his proverbial britches stockbroker having both personal and professional challenges lately. Despite this, he goes for what he believes he’s effectively invincible at–weaseling his way out of it all. Now in the midst of mending a tense and fracturing marriage with his long-suffering wife, Jyogesh has “the answer” to it all–or so he wishes to assume–until at the peak of seeing his “master plan” come to fruition, the bomb gets dropped and his world is upside down. Watching how Ahuja hilariously navigates his character through such a metaphorical cacophony of self-absorption and (again, mostly) feigned desperation to get out of his predicaments only to face the music is a complete joy to witness, a credit to the actor’s talent to infuse such a scoundrel with actual heart when actuality strikes him and we MIGHT have real empathy for him–or maybe not? A fun performance by Ahuja.
Rahul, on the surface, seems to be getting the short end of the stick in having to play a more understated role (in overall behavior, anyway) opposite such a blatantly over-the-top character like Jyogesh, but make NO mistake, the actress reigns it in and provides us with an energetic and quietly yet fervently impassioned performance as Jyotika, a wife embattled by her arranged marriage and a deep-seated conundrum that’s about to be exposed and hit the fan. Trying her best to be “the good wife” but clearly NOT at all happy with her hubby’s mentality towards, well, EVERYTHING they’re supposed to want or be about in the union, Jyotika keeps to herself after shoving him off each day, putting on appearances again when he’s home, and decidedly feeling neglected when anything she tries to do for him appears pointless as he’s come up with some other “solution” or action that thwarts her efforts.
When it all comes crashing down in a moment of unanticipated revelation, she has no choice but to make a choice. It’s a heartening performance by Rahul throughout, gaining our sympathy from the start for Jyotika. Supporting appearances are made here by Karan Parwani and Aayush Ambusht as co-workers of Jyogesh’s whom we cannot always determine whether they admire or abhor him and his ego-centric antics, Vilas Kundkar as a police officer Jyogesh runs afoul of, and Simran Gangwani as a KEY voice-only role that ties all the events we’ve seen together in one both jocular and deeply emotional instance. So, in total, “Pay Bhaji”, via mirth and mindfulness, tackles the shadiness and shambles we can make of our lives when hubris and the heart thunderously collide while the seeking of true love and satisfaction takes a turn we didn’t see coming–but reminds us we MUST always aim to be true TO ourselves via integrity from the start, no matter what, to ideally AVOID the pain of falsehoods.
STAR RATING (Out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
