“ None of my friends are watching. And those who did couldn’t bear to watch it to the end. “ He said while grating carrots. Careful not to graze his fingers, he said grimacing, “ If you want to watch it, go ahead! This movie can’t hook me enough to make the task at hand perilous.”
I smiled at his childish resistance unbelievably. “ Well, let’s see….”
I tuned in to the movie and ah! I found a struggling writer, Karan making ends meet. A comatose start riddled in flashbacks sets the tone of the movie. An agonizing past and startling reality are carried in the frame of a yoga instructor, Alisha.
Karan and Alisha in the pursuit of a somewhat American Dream in Mumbai come across a warm invitation by Tia in Alibaug. Received rather coldly by Alisha as it reminds her of a complex family equation, she reflects on the sorrowful past.
“Meanwhile tired hands immersed in grating carrots look up at the screen at the sound of waves. His eyes glow and dim simultaneously like the rising and falling waves. The wanderlust that he is, I smiled inwardly at the look on his face. Well, he cared to look up, that’s what matters, for now, who up till now had turned the movie into an audiobook.”
New figures enter. Tia and Zain are in stark contrast to Alisha and Karan.
Rich, plush oozing of brightness in the golden sun, Tia and Zain take away the grimness for some time.
“ Ek yacht hona chahiye!” ( We should own a Yacht )
“ You weren’t watching the movie, were you?”
“ Yeh iski cousin hai na (Isn't she Aisha's cousin). Zain doesn’t seem into her.”
Sideways glances. Stealing looks. As eyes continue searching Alisha, Zain eventually becomes one with her.
Like a seafarer, Zain pulls Alisha out on the surface. Together, they reach the shore for some time before despair hits again.
Zain has it rough. The tremors felt are irreversible. Business mishap gets entangled in personal turmoil.
Devoured in psychological chaos, Alisha navigates the mess with hopelessness.
The little light that glimmered at the end of the tunnel extinguishes when Zain tries to kill Alisha. In her attempt at self-defense, Zain gets pushed off the yacht.
As Zain drowns, so does his desperation to sail on the surface once again with Tia by putting the past behind.
“As eyes were glued to the screen, the life of the characters were hanging like the abandoned carrots.”
Naseer Sir carrying the aura of a father- who aches every bit at his daughter’s affliction is released of his guilt as Alisha sees him in the new light.
Two years later, Tia and Alisha get together at Karan’s engagement. As the two talk of letting go of the past, a haunting and ominous memory of Alibaug resurfaces in an old, stately character questioning Alisha, “ I have seen you before…”
As the movie ends abruptly, we cannot help thinking as to what becomes of Alisha. The glaring presence of Alibaug, though sold can’t be erased from the fate of Alisha and her family. The movie isn’t rainbow and sunshine; it is symbolic of a constant human struggle to stay afloat in search of a home.
Writer- Ankita Kumari
Image Credit- Livemint