7 days in slow motion.

‘You must have had a pretty dreadful childhood to be so screwed up.’ A pretty clichéd line, you might have heard people narrate hundreds of times, in movies, in social circles, most of the times as a joke.

It’s beyond doubt that early years are a big foundation to an individual’s being. In fact a lot of our unimportant looking behavioral traits have subtle reference to our past. Even though subconsciously, pleasures and pressures of childhood are very much a part of us, one needs an introspective eye or a brutally honest friend to point this out.

7 days in slow motion showcased on the last day of IFFLA 2009 is a revelation, as a friend, opening our eyes towards this reality. On the face, it’s a movie about a group of 6th graders who show their passion for movies by making one themselves. A family movie on a Sunday is an expected houseful with loads of children. Except the girl next to me said she hadn’t seen much in Indian cinema but had heard a lot. She came in presuming it should be good, since she got the last ticket even though she booked it a week in advance. I wouldn’t blame her as I was as ignorant of what this movie really wanted to say.

To be fair to the synopsis, it is a story of a kid; Ravi who along with his buddies shares this insatiable passion towards film making but it goes miles beyond that. A chance encounter hands this group a high end camera which has to be returned before the end of seven days. It wouldn’t take a lot of deliberation for them to decide what they wanted to do with it. Except that they also have exams towards the end of the week. For Ravi who is the most determined of the lot and also the class topper, this means a lot of problems. The biggest of them is an obsessed mother played by Rajeshwari Sachdev. Rajeshwari in one of her best characters sketches yet, plays this woman who is determined to hide her own failure in life through the academic success of her son. She is shown in an attempt to redeem her ego from the clutches of her own mother who unabashedly worships her other daughter. This affects Ravi so much so that he has nightmares about his mom committing suicide incase he fails and towards the exams he becomes incapable of sleep. But there is more than what meets the eye, the over jealous obsession of the mother has to heart a suppressed childhood ambition which makes her, her own nemesis.

The movie also weaves in a parallel track of the cousin of one of the boys who is about to be married away to a balding guy twice her age. The cousin is played by Paru Gambhir, a parentless seventeen year old, living with her aunt who treats her like a rag. This seemingly off track story actually guides the story further towards the message with subtlety. It hits the audience really hard when the movie made by the kids is finally shown. In one of the best child actor performances, the painful silence of Paru’s piercing eyes portrays what even a two page script could never have managed.

The main hero of the movie however is a co Art-director from Walt Disney, Mr Umakanth Thumrugoti. Even while dealing with such an intense topic, he never lets his audience settle down on a single emotion. He uses the plot to make comic jabs at how cinema across the world is ridden with false gimmicks. How the importance of a story is sidelined and a caricature of life takes over. I could see the girl next seat drawn in by the intense scenes with her palm stuck across her face and rollicking back with laughter at the effortless humor the very next moment. For me the most difficult thing is to have in the audience is a smiling face with tears rolling down the cheeks. I haven’t seen a movie before which even came close to achieving something like this.

I truly hope that 7 days in slow motion finds its distributors and has an opening in theatres throughout the world and speaks out the true meaning of independent cinema. All I can say is given an opportunity please DO watch it IF it releases anywhere near you.