The Free Press Journal

Quirky love story for the internet generation

- JOHNSON THOMAS Johnsont30­7@gmail.com

The two primary characters here prefer to live their lives in the thrill of WhatsApp clouds. The world today may largely consist of youngsters who ping, like, tweet, share and comment their way into each other’s hearts but will such relationsh­ips really hold strong once the anonymity of a digital screen vanishes. Onir’s latest love story examines this very phenomenon- love in the time of the mobile app where two strangers connect over a misdial and WhatsApp their way into each other’s hearts while continuing to be safely hidden behind digital screens. But what price such love where the two know little about each other – other than what they choose to expose on their social media profiles.

Kolkata girl Archana (Geetanjali Thapa) doesn’t have a profile pic on social media (her Leucoderma spots might explain that), yet goes for blind dates on Tinder with those like her. She is a huge fan of RJ Alfaaz (Zain Khan Durrani). A reticent guy, Alfaaz aka Abhimanyu, is caught up in his own past though. Archana’s missed call leads to the two bonding over WhatsApp messages. To her, he is Mr Ittefaq – unaware that he is the same RJ who drives her emotions haywire. Constant messaging leads to digital intimacy but is this relationsh­ip destined to go any further is what we would all like to know?

Onir, of course, takes us down the garden path, giving us a dekho at what transpires between the two. The performanc­e by Geetanjali Thapa and Zain Khan Durrani are what makes this engagement much more meaningful though.

Onir’s sensitivit­y also adds magical moments to the dramatics here. Abhishek Chatterjee’s script obviously knows what it’s talking about- spreading love, good cheer and serendipit­y in abundance while the cinematogr­apher works out a colour palette that makes the romance within all the more becoming. A heartfelt valentine this!

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