Photograph - screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival

This new film from Ritesh Batra is the much awaited follow up to the brilliant comedy The Lunchbox.
 

Struggling street photographer Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who also stars in Lunchbox), based in Mumbai, works all the hours he can to pay off an old family debt. His grandmother (Farrukh Jaffar) constantly pressurises him to find a suitable match. He eventually shows his grandmother by a photo of a stranger, Miloni (Sanya Malhotra) claiming she is his fiancée. When his grandmother demands to be introduced to his fiancée, he manages to track down Miloni. Rafi asks her to fake their relationship, to which Miloni  agrees.

The two soon become friends, obviously enjoying each other's company, despite their very different backgrounds, but not becoming romantically involved. The situation is complicated by the fact that Miloni pretends to be an orphan to avoid Rafi's grandmother wanting to meet them. However it becomes difficult to avoid almost bumping into them.

Miloni is a very quiet character, a trait that can come across very poorly in some films, but here it works, she is the quiet but determined young woman not prepared to waste words where they're not needed. Her growing interest in becoming part of Rafi's world is part of her testing out what she wants from life.

The drama that ensues is a sweet entertaining story, well worth savouring.  

Photograph is screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival at 1815 Wednesday 26 June at Odeon Lothian Road and at 2020 Thursday 27 June at Vue Omni Centre. You can book tickets here.

You can read my earlier reviews from Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019, by following the links below:

Boyz in the Wood a group of teenage boys get lost in the Scottish Highlands.

2040 - can technology offer solutions to our current climate and ecological crises?

 Bait - Cornish fishermen try to adapt to a changing world

How to Fake  a War (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) what happens when a rock star decides to meddle in international affairs?

Farm Animals on Film - featuring The Biggest Little Farm - an inspiring story of the creation of a sustainable biodiverse farm in California, plus Vulture, an experimental film about farm animals.

Virgin and Extra: Land of the Olive Oil.

Chef Diaries Scotland: Spanish Chefs the Roca brothers take the viewer on a culinary road trip round Scotland

 Up the Mountain - a year in an artists' studio in the Chinese mountains.

The Amber Light - a cinematic ode to Scotland's national drink

Aren't You Happy (on my Shapeshifting Green blog) - a writer searches for the meaning of life while not actually writibg anything


The Deer - a Basque language film following two poachers in a national park on the outskirts of San Sebastien.

 Hurt by Paradise - a poet keeps searching for a publisher and an actor keeps trying to get a role

Endzeit - ecofeminist road movie, with zombies

Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the film festival and attended a free press screening of these films.