‘Margarita With A Straw’: Limited appeal Producers: Shonali Bose, Nilesh Maniyar.
Director: Shonali Bose. Cast: Kalki Koechlin, Shonali Bose, Revathi. Margarita With A Straw is one of the five projects chosen in the Work In Progress Lab section of the Film Bazaar 2013. This can be called a personal film in the sense that it is the story of an individual who is very talented but physically challenged. And unlike My Name Is Khan, it does not have an agenda or a depiction of heroics of a fictional character who suffers from autism. This film is more real and true to life. Its protagonist’s character has a close resemblance to the American stand-up comedian and actress, Geri Jewell, who has cerebral palsy and later discovers that she is lesbian. Kalki Koechlin suffers from cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound. She can’t stand on her feet nor are her hands under her total control. She just about manages to make her words discernible. But she is intelligent and talented. In her mid-teens, she also has urges like all normal people. At home and at college in Delhi University where she studies, her life is made easier and happier by her friends and the caring family, especially her mother, Revathi, for whom Kalki has to be treated like a child all her life. Her friends in college treat her as they would any normal fellow collegian. She is part of her college band and their star lyric writer. But it is that age when Kalki’s sexual urges start working on her. She starts with watching porn and later indulging in self-gratification and then is bold enough to take another wheelchair bound friend to a secluded college corner for a huge smooch. She has no inhibitions and, with her college friend, even goes shopping for a vibrator. Everybody around Kalki has made her feel normal. She chats with them late at night and falls in love with one of her band members. But she is soon brought down to earth and shown her place when she is told that her college won the first prize at a music competition because the judges tweaked the decision in their favour because a physically challenged Kalki had written the words. Later, when she declares her love to her band member, he does not acknowledge it. But, Kalki’s disillusion with the world around her doesn’t last long as her admission to New York University is confirmed. Hers is a mixed marriage family, a Maharashtrian Revathi married to a Sikh and living in Delhi. The father is docile and mother’s word is the last. Kalki gets her way. New York is an all new world to Kalki where she discovers herself. The fact that she is an intelligent student despite her drawbacks remains but what is more important to her, her sexual leanings, are revealed to her. Here she meets a blind girl, Sayani Gupta, an offspring of a Bengali-Pakistani parentage, and a lesbian. Sayani has an inherent instinct and feels the sexual urges of Kalki and soon initiates her into her kind of sex: lesbian love. Kalki finally learns of her orientation and true love. It is a match made out of need and belonging. Soon Kalki returns home on a vacation, with Sayani tagging along. It is time to confide in her mother, who is shattered to know what her daughter is up to. But, Revathi is counting her days and she must come to terms with her daughter’s choice. After all, what she wants is her daughter’s happiness. But, soon, Kalki’s grim life catches up with her as Revathi gives into a sickness and Sayani leaves her. She is back to her old friends. This is a tricky and brave subject and the scripting is taut. Direction by Shonali Bose is excellent. The songs are purely situational. Dialogue is true to the script. Cinematography is complementary. This is a Kalki vehicle all the way and, despite some discrepancies in her movements and manners of a challenged person, she excels and makes a strong claim for some awards. Sayani Gupta provides a perfect foil. Revathi, the seasoned artiste that she is, underplays effectively. Rest of the actors are good too because of a good casting. Margarita With A Straw is a film purely meant for the discerning audience in India and for the festival circuit. Regards, Vishnu Information transmitted by this e-mail is proprietary to Mphasis, its associated companies and/ or its customers and is intended for use only by the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or it appears that this mail has been forwarded to you without proper authority, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this information in any manner is strictly prohibited. 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