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Side A Side B Review: A fun combo of train journey, music & conversations fail to leave a lasting impact
Side A Side B featuring Rahul Rajkhowa and Shivranjini Singh releases on the 11th of February on T-Series YouTube channel.
Side A Side B
Writer and Director: Sudhish Kamath
Cast: Rahul Rajkhowa, Shivranjani Singh, Dude The Cat
Streaming Platform: YouTube
Stars: 2
If you, the reader of this review, are from the generation of cassette buyers, hoarders, and listeners, you might recall the fun of turning a cassette to the side which features your favorite song on the album. Four to six different songs on each side, each telling a different story and composed with different notes, yet somehow relating a core, or the plot of a movie. Speaking of which, Side A Side B is the perfect name for Sudhish Kamath’s musical love story featuring Rahul Rajkhowa and Shivranjani Singh in the leads.
Joel (Rahul) and Shivi (Shivranjani) are two musicians and young lovers on a journey, literally, and metaphorically. As 21-year-old Shivi leaves from Shillong to Mumbai to explore the world, and discover her personhood and potential, her beau Joel accompanies her on the forty-four-hour long train ride across the country. While Rahul and Shivranjani lend vocals to their own songs, they also touch on, and represent contrasting takes on several subjects ranging from young love, the role of the army in north-eastern states, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, capitalism, ‘corporate slavedom’, among others. Amid their conversations, they have a sole listener, Mr. Lou, Shivy’s pet cat who is aptly traveling in a Schrodinger’s cage.
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Side A Side B has a simple storyline. Two young travelers with their own minds, conversing on a range of topics, with the help of self-composed songs. The film might remind the viewer of another love story that started from a train journey, Before Sunrise. However, Sudhish Kamath’s movie lacks execution. The shaky camerawork and bad lighting in the train can be generously excused and attributed to the fact that the characters are shown recording themselves with their personal devices. But the reason they are recording themselves on camera is not shown in the first place. The abrupt jumps and cuts to random scenes from Joel and Shivy’s life in the hills do not uplift the narrative of the film either.
Given that Side A Side B is a musical film, music director Sudeep Swaroop does a commendable job with the songs as he experiments with different genres, style, and even languages. It is mostly through these songs sung by Rahul and Shivranjani themselves, that the viewers also get a glimpse of where each character is in their relationship, and the inners workings of their minds. However, you would worry for their co-passengers in the train, who might not want to be an audience to Joel and Shivy’s private concert, like Mr. Lou. The songs could have been shorter, better paced-out, the conversations longer, the awkwardly-placed screen divide invisible, the shaky camerawork, less shaky, and the end, less abrupt.
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Side A Side B written and directed by Sudhish Kamath, and produced by Luv Ranjan, Ankur Garg, and Kamath, will be releasing on the 11th of February on the YouTube Channel of T-Series.
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