A low-key family drama that manages to fly.
The past has a hold over us. Through practicing age-old traditions or simple reminiscing, most of us long for what came before, even as we seek to leave it behind. Such is the case in director Prashant Bhargava's Patang, which finds middle-aged businessman Jayesh (Mukund Shukla) returning to his home city of Ahmedabad on the eve of Uttarayan, India's largest kite festival. He's there to visit his deceased brother's family and to cast a kite into the sky as he did when he was a boy and his ancestors have done for centuries. But there's another, more ominous purpose for his return that threatens to sever the family's connection to the old city.
On a purely aesthetic level, Patang is hypnotic, reaching out of the screen to pull you through the teeming streets, up atop sun-baked rooftops and into a sky turned sea of colourful fabric. Bhargava makes even the most mundane sequences crackle with energy. The loving panache with which it's all brought to life is the film's greatest asset.
The story beneath this visual splendor, meanwhile, is a sprawling, low-key slice of life; family members go through their daily routines, tip-toeing around pent-up resentments, each quietly contending with the wounds of the past and generational clashing as they try to enjoy the festivities.
The business of the script is at times so insubstantial that things would grind to a halt were the film not blessed with such an inviting ensemble. From Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Jayesh's bitter nephew to Seema Biswas as his gentle sister-in-law, all exude an easy, lived-in chemistry, making them pleasant companions for the viewer, even when there's no forward momentum. Sugandha Garg in particular is effortlessly watchable as Jayesh's willful daughter Priya, whether during her passing flirtation with a local shop worker or just wandering the streets with an ever-present camcorder.
All of this is to say that, for better and for worse, Patang is very much like a kite itself. Running just under 90 minutes, it glides along pleasantly, catching the eye and bringing a smile to your face; more than once during the kinetic kite-capade sequences I found myself slipping into a daydream, the same as if I were sky-gazing in the park on a lazy weekend afternoon.
By the same token, it's very slight, leaving little more than a faint, pleasurable impression. Even when resentments boil over, life choices are lamented and potential tragedy strikes, we aren't moved. Much as we enjoy these characters, we never invest in them. Much as we appreciate the film's reflections on life, they don't hit home in any meaningful way.
As an audience, we're always on the ground, gazing up at a pretty but faraway piece of fabric twisting in the wind. This isn't a failure of the filmmakers so much as a limitation of the form they chose to tell their story. A kite is what it is. The joys it offers are fleeting, but that doesn't mean they're unworthy or need to be improved upon. Sometimes you just feel like watching something soar, even if it's not going anywhere in particular.
*Patang is currently in theatres. Contact your local listings.
Cast: Seema Biswas, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sugandha Garg, Mukund Shukla, Aakash Maherya and Hamid Sheikh
Director: Prashant Bhargava
Producer: Jaideep Punjabi
Official Site: www.patang.tv
BY MATTHEW CURRIE
Feature Image & Source: Bollyspice
Images & Source: Bollyspice, IMDB.com, Patang.tv
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