‘Three Of Us’ Movie Review: Leave Everything And Go Watch Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat, Swanand Kirkire’s Acting Masterclass

‘Three Of Us’: Cast & Crew

Director: Avinash Arun

Cast: Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat, Swanand Kirkire, Kadambari Kadam, Payal Jadhav

Available In: Theatres

Duration: 1 Hour 38 Minutes

‘Three Of Us’: Story

‘Three Of Us’ is a delicate thread of emotions about love, loss, healing, awareness and liberation. While grappling with the early symptoms of dementia, Shailaja (Shefali Shah) finds herself at the cusp of her past, present and future. She decides to go on a trip to revisit her childhood before her memories ebb away. Shailaja embarks on a confrontational journey that makes her deal with questions related to a traumatic event in her childhood, the mundanity of her marriage, and the complexity of her future. As Shailaja travels through the sprawling coastline of Konkan with her husband (Swanand Kirkire) and childhood love (Jaideep Ahlawat) by her side, we see her inching closer towards the forgiveness and liberation she has always yearned for. Will she eventually be able to attain the satisfaction that she has been yearning for years? Will the husband be okay with everything? Will the childhood lover finally get his ladylove? Will anyone ever get closure? Well, for all that you’ll have to watch the movie.

‘Three Of Us’: Performances

Shefali Shah never disappoints. Her layered portrayal of a woman who’s slowly slipping into dementia is so nuanced and delicate that you will be left looking at each and every emotion and facial expression of hers. It’s not that she’s trying too hard to impress with an intense performance. It’s the innate degree of nicety and refinement that she is able to get onscreen that keeps you cheering for her character. You want her to get her closure. You want her to have her emotional healing before she’s completely unable to remember her past. You want her to squeeze every ounce of life that’s possible to get out of her before she gets into oblivion. Getting the audience so invested in her character is what makes her performance so fantastic. A scene where she is at her childhood dance school and suddenly a bout of dementia hits her and the way she reacts to it is so terrific that you just want to hold her tight and give her a big bear hug. She is undoubtedly brilliant.

There are very few roles where you would see Jaideep Ahlawat smiling so much. He usually is the angry man throughout, and whenever he does smile, it’s always been sarcastic or sinister. In ‘Three Of Us’ you see him smile wholeheartedly for the first time, and that makes you realise that this guy is not just for tough character, he is also a softie at heart and can pull off even such roles onscreen. There is a scene where he is narrating to Shefali Shah an incident about his own father and the brilliance with which he switches between emotions of sadness, tragedy, guilt and ultimately remorse shows how terrific of an actor he is.

Swanand Kirkire’s character is slightly jealous, but not hurt that his wife wants to go meet a former childhood lover and get closure. Getting that emotion right of trying to help your wife in battling a life-threatening ailment but keeping your personal judgements about her past relationships aside is fabulous work. Kirkire gets that subtlety with such finesse that every woman would end up wishing that they had a husband as understanding as him.

‘Three Of Us’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

The writing by Avinash Arun, Omkar Achyut Barve and Arpita Chatterjee along with the dialogues by Varun Grover and Shoaib Nazeer is the soul of the film. There is a subtlety to the writing and that brings the steadiness to the story. The nuances that they’ve managed to get into a story that’s so simple that you’re given a reality check of how life changes with the passing of time. The simplicity of things, the necessity of calmness and the requirement of letting yourself free from time to time are shown brilliantly in ‘Three Of Us’.

Avinash Arun’s brilliance in writing is also shown in his direction. The way he has narrated a story that’s so simple yet so relatable that you’re just sucked deeper and deeper into the film with every passing scene. The way he unfolds the screenplay gives you a warm, homely and nostalgic feeling, and you’ll not want it to stop. It’s not like the mushy romantic films which promise you that everything is going to be okay in life. Rather, he manages to give the viewer a warm hug after narrating the harsh realities of life and then hugging them to help them cope with it.

The maturity with which the love story comes around is outstanding. Hardly ever do you see love portrayed with such maturity that you know that it’s a thing of your past, but you also know that you can’t still let it go unless you’ve got complete closure. Also, they’ve managed to put in so many gender-bending scenes which will strike you instantly. For example, a boy in a Bharatnatyam dance class which is filled with girls. Jaideep Ahlawat’s character not shying away from stitching, fabric painting and embroidered artwork is another such example. Usually, filmmakers won’t show these small nuances unless they want to shatter the preset gender stereotypes in Indian society. Avinash Arun needs to be lauded for that.

Avinash Arun’s cinematography is also applause-worthy. He has managed to showcase the locales of the small village in Konkan so beautifully that you feel like you’re walking alongside the characters. At times the scenes are a bit too dark, and there isn’t too much light on the actors’ faces, but it seems like an intentional choice by Avinash Arun to signify that every character has some dark secrets hidden inside them. The usage of POV shots and some overhead drone takes makes you feel like leaving everything else and just going to spend some days in this quaint village in Konkan.

Sanyukta Kaza’s editing is crisp. It doesn’t make you feel bored at any instant. Even though it’s just an hour and 38 minutes, you’re keenly hooked on what’s going on at every instant. There are barely any jump cuts which makes the transitions so smooth and effortless that the narrative latches on to you.

While usually in such quaint small-town dramas the background score and soulful songs leave an impact. What’s so brilliant here about Alokananda Dasgupta’s background score is that he has left entire scenes without any form of disturbance. It feels like there’s absolutely no BGM in numerous scenes. But fortunately, they gel so well with the scene that’s taking place in the forefront that it fits perfectly into the narrative. That absence of a background score makes the setting feel eerie and the tale even more intense. Intentional or unintentional, it’s come out as a masterstroke!

‘Three Of Us’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

‘Three Of Us’ is a masterpiece in acting. Shefali Shah, Jaideep Ahlawat and Swanand Kirkire have given such a measured portrayal of their characters that you don’t feel for a second that they’re acting. The characters are so darn natural, and that brings out the reality of the situations that Avinash Arun puts them through even more vividly. It’s, without a doubt, the Best Film I’ve seen this year. I am going with 5 stars.