Filmmakers Present Relatable Tales Of Love In Anthology 'Modern Love: Mumbai'

Amidst the preparations for an impending ceremony, I scrambled to make time to watch Modern Love Mumbai for the trailer had me hooked. Being a part-time insomniac helped me sail through most of it until I passed out right before Alankrita Shrivastava’s My Beautiful Wrinkles.

The next morning, I had an eager guest—my mother—with me to view the episode from the anthology series, a spinoff of an American show based on the eponymous New York Times column. My Beautiful Wrinkles followed the story of Dilbar Sodhi (Sarika) who is trying to grapple with Kunal’s (Danesh Rizwi) declaration of sexual interest and love for her. It sets her on a path of dealing with the baggage from her past and re-discovering the joy of life.

Shrivastava directorial which also starred Tanvi Azmi, Ahsaas Channa and others made space for the representation of older women, their exploration of desires and their choice to treat them the way they want to. Shrivastava’s story ends on a happy note with all the older women enjoying their life to the fullest.

Modern Love Mumbai Show Review

The anthology series’ nuanced love stories—based on NYT column but reworked to fit into the Indian scenario—focus on various kinds of love including queer relationships. Hansal Mehta’s directorial is a gem like any other film by him. The filmmaker’s Baai starring Tanuja, Pratik Gandhi and Chef Ranveer Brar revolves around Manzu aka Manzar Khan (Pratik) and Rajveer (Brar).

The story is about love and acceptance which ends on a poignantly beautiful note as Baai (Tanuja) with one nod tells Manzu that she’s been aware of his sexuality and loves him regardless moments before she peacefully passes away.

The episode was beautifully shot and managed to capture the scenic beauty of ‘Bombay’, its narrow lanes and old buildings and the Goan beaches. Despite the weak, awkward and underwhelming chemistry between Brar and Gandhi, the episode did make the audience emotional.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Mumbai’s Dragon is a dark comedy and romance story that follows the story of Sui; she expresses her love for her son Ming (Meiyang Chang) through the food she cooks. With Megha (Waqima Gabbi), “a vegetarian witch”, she feels threatened. The episode follows her journey of realizing that sometimes letting go is the truest form of love.

While Cutting Chai by Nupur Asthana and Dhruv Sehgal’s I Love Thane are simple love stories of two couples who find love in everyday things. Asthana’s story focuses on a writer, Latika (Chitrangada Singh) rethinks what her life would have been like had she made different choices and been different than she was. Dhruv’s story is about a 30-something interior landscape artist Saiba who has a pragmatic approach to life but struggles with dating.

All these stories have a common thread that enriches them—the cinematography. The compositions of frames and the colour palettes in these six episodes reflect the tone that each of these episodes wants to take on. The poetic effect that each filmmaker adds in their shorts is a sight to behold.

For instance, Bose’s Lali crosses the flyover on her rusty cycle without struggling which is symbolic of her freedom from the shackles of patriarchy.

The anthology brings old wine in a new bottle only much better. It’s amazing to see how the six filmmakers turn around the stories with award-worthy performances, relatable dialogues and a nuanced understanding of finding love in an Indian metropolitan city—Mumbai. It undeniably leaves one with a guileless smile and probably repairs the fractured hope in the institutions of love and companionship.

Modern Love: Mumbai is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Views expressed are the author's own

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