Anthologies as a genre have been a prominent component of Indian cinema in the final two decades, and there are two types of it adapted in a variety of languages. In 1 kind, the diverse stories have an interconnection mainly revealed towards the finish, and in the other they stay unrelated as a compilation of distinctive quick films produced on a prevalent topic.
Unpaused is the second kind of anthology presenting 5 diverse stories about the current lockdown triggered by COVID-19. The restricted series was produced through this difficult period by 5 talented directors with just a handful of characters and their restricted movements. The title represents the scenario as the life of every single single human on this planet got paused for a handful of months lately, and there had been only a handful of situations when we all got Unpaused.
It starts with a futuristic, comical as properly as sarcastic take on the scenario titled Glitch, portraying how romance, dating and living/working from house could be there in the coming years. Featuring Gulshan Devaiah and Saiyami Kher, it has been directed by Raj & DK in their distinctive style that however remains the weakest component of the presentation and hence need to not have been presented as the very first story, to be sincere. It has performances and a praiseworthy art path, but being the quite very first story, does not give adequate time to the viewer to get into the correct mood. Interestingly, it strongly reminded me of a further will have to-watch anthology titled Island City (2016), directed by Ruchika Oberoi.
As the second story, Apartment, directed by Nikkhil Advani, has Richa Chadda, Sumeet Vyas and Ishwak Singh playing the crucial roles. This ideally need to have been the very first section of the series as it strongly depicts how an person gets into suicidal tendencies even though living a lonely life locked up in a space, constantly pondering about his or her private tragedies and dilemmas. The lighter touch of an annoying neighbour enhances the effect ending with a believed-provoking conversation, scoring a lot above Glitch.
The series becomes even far better with its third story Rat-A-Tat, directed by Tannishtha Chatterjee that once more bargains with a lady living alone, not prepared to welcome a neighbour as her undesirable guest in the lockdown. However, right here the tone remains basic, good, entertaining and musical also. Though predictable, this distinct story remains realistic and lovable mainly because of a sparkling chemistry involving Lillete Dubey, Rinku Rajguru and their properly-written dialogues. Rinku as soon as once more is the scene-stealer right here post her mega hit Sairat (Marathi).
The fourth component, Vishaanu, directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware, remains the finest of them all, as it is a story about the most impacted section of our society through the lockdown. It’s about the poor migrants who neither had income to spend for the highly-priced travel house nor a location to reside in without having any work or common supply of earning. The accurate feelings are brilliantly depicted by each Abhishek Banerjee and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan representing thousands of unknown stories associated to the scary lockdown, and the intelligent reference of TikTok sort of videos requires the cake. Incidentally, right here not only the theme but also the title Vishaanu strongly reminds you of the equivalent premise of the Oscar-winning Parasite (Korean/2019).
From its peak, the series ends on a soft note with Nitya Mehra-directed Chaand Mubarak focusing on the interactions involving a senior citizen enacted by Ratna Pathak Shah and an auto driver played by Shardul Bhardhwaj. The sudden and unexpected connection involving strangers not only depicts the religious and class divide but also represents empathy or compassion felt for the other in such uncertain situations. Having stated that, the execution nonetheless lacks in terms of an immediate emotional connect with the viewer.
Overall, with most of the stories getting engaging, revolving about the initial days of the pandemic, the finest issue about Unpaused is that it is not any hurriedly-produced series to money in on the present situation. The anthology may possibly not be an exceptional take on the topic, but it has been produced with a vision and noble intentions, with a lot of calm and silent moments that have sadly come to be uncommon in our present new-age Hindi cinema. Moreover, it is essential, as only such realistic cinematic documentations will convey the thought of the taalies and thaalies to the future generations without having any intentional adulterations.
Title: UNPAUSED
Directors: Raj and DK, Nikkhil Advani, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Avinash Arun, and Nitya Mehra
Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Sayyami Kher, Sumeet Vyas, Richa Chadha, Lillete Dubey, Rinku Rajguru, Abhishek Banerjee, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Ratna Pathak Shah, Shardul Bharadwaj
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 3/5