Gandhi Talks Movie Review: Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swami's silent film is close to victory

Director: Kishor Pandurang Belekar

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swami, Aditi Rao Hydari, Siddharth Jadhav

A silent film is a novelty. The last one that I watched in a theater happens to be Karthik Subbaraj’s Mercury. So when Gandhi Talks premiered at IFFI 2023, I was excited. I wanted to see how Kishor would meet the challenge of narrating a story without dialogues. Would it be engaging? After all, our attention span is narrower than ever before. Fortunately, not only was the film engaging, there were certain sections in the film that were praiseworthy as well. However, I felt that the film got damp towards the end, like the wet newspaper that Vijay Sethupathi‘s character cleans up towards the end.

The premise is interesting. It is about the dichotomy that exists within the society where as a whole we strive towards an ideal society as envisioned by people such as Gandhi or APJ Abdul Kalaam. However, as individuals, our actions are contrary. There is corruption, greed and hunger for power that takes the front seat. So, what happens to an individual who lives in a society that is eroded to its core because of corruption?

The obvious answer is that he suffers. He suffers from economic poverty, his dignity as a human being is stamped on enough times to force him unto a path that he may have not taken otherwise. A path that forces him to act without any thoughts to consequences of his action. Especially, if these actions can take him a tad bit closer to not his dreams, but his needs. It is because the film targets the basics of this young man’s livelihood that we are moved. He is struggling for “Roti, kapda, makaan,” so when he decides that becoming a robber is a solution. We sympathize with his situation. This is really the last straw for him. So, we travel with him.

It is also until here that the film is really brilliant. The scenes where three people play hide and seek to music composed by AR Rahman is where Gandhi Talks peaked for me. The conclusion is where I lost the plot because the film moves from a silent dark comedy to a sentimental melodrama. I understand wanting to hit crescendo, but the shift did not sit well in this scenario.

I was particularly not fond of the last meeting between Vijay Sethupathi and Arvind Swami’s characters. All I could think was that this film started off as a brilliant piece of commentary but did not take it to the very end. So somewhere towards the end, it flounders and becomes a reflection of society at large today. Not that there is anything wrong with this take, but it’s just that I was disappointed.

Also, after Petta, Vikram and most recently, Jawaan, this is not starring Vijay Sethupathi, the one note villain, but an actor who seems to have enjoyed adding another feather to his cap.

Rating: 2 and half out of 5

Gandhi Talks movie was screened at IFFI