The Forest: Movie Review

Pvr is releasing movies under an initiative called Directors Rare. Most of these are movies that were stuck in the cans waiting for a release. This year they have already released Chaurahen and Good Night Good Morning. The forest is yet another one from that stable. I had seen this movie on a Dvd way back in 2009 but quite frankly had forgotten it so had to see it again to review it.

Whats it about? A married couple Ankur Vikal (fantastic in Maqbool and Striker) and Nandana Sen visit a forest to sort things out between them. They meet Javed Jaafri who is an ex flame of Nandanas. A love triangle starts playing out while a man eating leopard is on the prowl.

My take The best thing about the film was that it was just under 90 mins and played without an interval. Out of which it is only in the last 25 mins when the leopard strikes, when it gets interesting. But the low point is its shot in such low light and it keeps disengaging you visually. The rest of the film is a boring look at a love triangle which is engaging thanks to the performance of Jaaved Jaafri and Ankur Vikal and the brilliant sound design and cinematography. The point about why tigers are becoming man eaters doesnt come through in the film. In fact it might put off many people from going to wildlife sanctuaries. Also strangely even though we use English in our day to day conversations, it sounds weird to hear Indian actors speaking the language on the screen. All the characters except Tarun Shukla who plays Bhola Ram come across demented and in desperate need to be sent on a package deal to a shrink. You can also spot Dipa De Motwane (Mother of Vikramaditya Motwane) in a small cameo as a mysterious god woman.

Word of mouth The Forest is an interesting short film stretched too long with its 90 min duration.

Rating - *** (Above Average)

Ticket Meter Worth 100 bucks.