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Tribhanga Movie Review: Kajol, Tanvi Azmi and Mithila Palkar deliver a choice you must make this weekend
Tribhanga Movie Review: The latest Netflix original is a poetic and fluid drama that takes you back to when films were made for the audience with a penchant for theatre.
Movie: Tribhanga
Tribhanga Director: Renuka Shahane
Tribhanga Cast: Kajol, Mithila Palkar, Tanvi Azmi
Movie Stars: 3.5/5
Is it people or relationships that bother us, or is it the memory? The latest Netflix original, Tribhanga starring Kajol, Tanvi Azmi and Mithila Palkar is a poetic and fluid drama that takes you back to when films were made for audience with a penchant for theatre. Tribhanga is an Odissi dance pose that is asymmetrical, yet mesmerising and sensuous, so much like the lives of the three generations of women - Nayantara, Anuradha and Masha played by Tanvi Azmi, Kajol and Mithila Palkar, respectively.
Nayantara is a renowned writer who refuses to be shackled to the conservative ideology and diktat of how a woman should behave in her life. Working on her autobiography with Milan (Kunaal Roy Kapur), she expresses her desire not to make it a compendium of her reflections. She wants her children to have an equal choice of criticising her for being the mother to who they are now indifferent, and perhaps hate. Her undeniable love for writing is challenged when her mother-in-law and husband accuse her of ignoring her family responsibilities. At the moment, she walks away with her two children (Anuradha and Robindro). Anuradha ‘Anu’ Apte (Kajol) is today a controversial celebrity and a known Odissi artist. Anu is a cannon mouth, prefers to abuse at the drop of her hat, and has constant angry and verbal outbursts. She doesn’t believe in marriage and is a single parent to Masha (Mithila Palkar), born out of a live-in relationship with her Russian (now ex) boyfriend.
Robindro, on the other hand, has accepted a more spiritual way of life. His unconditional love for his sibling Anu, makes him join her in hating their mother to the extent that they never address her as Ayi (Mother in Marathi). For them, Nayantara has long become just Nayan. They are forced to face and understand Nayan’s perspective (and her reasons) on life when she suffers from a brain stroke and eventually falls into a coma state. The question they must answer is: Are they any better or worse than her? The film written and directed by Renuka Shahane celebrates women, their choices, and their imperfections through each of the lead characters’ vantage.
One of the biggest strengths of this film is the cast. Tanvi Azmi, Manav Gohil, and Kanwaljeet Singh are actors who have been chiselled by their theatre experience. It is Kunaal Roy Kapur, Mithila Palkar, and most importantly, Kajol who surprise us. It’s a genuine fight to earn the audience's involvement – and subtlety in acting is the weapon they use. Renuka plays to Kajol’s strength and keeps her Achilles Heels protected. The director uses stills of Kajol’s Odissi performance rather than force the actor to take a dab at the classical form, which could have come across as disingenuous.
The elixir of life is that it’s the choices we make that shapes us, and those around. Renuka highlights that all choices are a mere bargain through an engrossing screenplay – and sometimes your win is somebody’s loss.
This is one of the films that doesn’t drain the audience. It involves them, making them reassess their judgement of relationships and evoking the need to give a second chance to those we once loved the most.
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