Ribbon

A LAUDABLE EFFORT ON UNPLANNED PARENTHOOD

Ribbon Story: Architect Karan Mehra (Sumeet Vyas) learns from his panic-stricken wife Sahana (Kalki Koechlin) that he is going to be a father soon, something neither of them were prepared for.

Ribbon Review: In an urban setting, with a young and independent couple at its centre, the baby naturally becomes the subject of conflict —Sahana was just a whisk away from her dream promotion and Karan was engrossed in his professional endeavours.

Just like any director’s actor, both Sumeet and Kalki have dedicated substantial amount of time in rehearsing their scenes — the long, laden-with-dialogues shots would have been a complete downer otherwise.

Kalki’s portrayal of a cranky, muddled mother-to-be arouses empathy and could have very well proved to be cathartic for a few, but just when you start to establish a connect with the characters, especially Kalki’s, you are distanced from them with an annoying and totally uncalled for lapse of time. Not just once, but on four different (and crucial) occasions. The pair’s struggle to come to terms with this new addition to their lives is pretty evident but what happens to that inner chaos later has not been explained in the movie.

Sumeet Vyas, as the distraught husband of a vexed woman, is convincing and far more believable than Kalki’s portrayal of a very vain, conceited Sahana and the swift changes of heart she bestows on us. A seasoned actress like Kalki Koechlin cannot stoop below mediocrity and she doesn’t, but only in parts. Saving grace, other than Vyas, is of course the naivety of the child artiste.

Without delving much into details, Ribbon could have resonated with today’s ambition-seeking youngsters, had the director (Rakhee Sandilya) and writers stuck to one primary plot and not introduced a sub-plot in the second half. Despite the element of realism in the film, both the episodes do not seem to reach a conclusion. And lack both in depth and province. The second half is dragged beyond imagination and the end is a bit abrupt and disappointing, given the build-up.

All in all, Ribbon starts off with one storyline and ends with another, but fails to capture the gamut of both. Rakhee Sandilya has started a conversation on a less-spoken human emotion, very humanely. If only she had taken one route and explored it to its optimum level.