Coffee Bloom (Hindi, 2015)

Manu Warrier & Sharath Parvathavani (who has played a small but excellently enacted part) must be commended for placing this mature relationship drama in the midst of a Coorg Coffee estate. It is almost an adaptation of Satyajit Ray’s 1965 film The Coward but does offer something more. Excellent casting too, as a relatively small set of characters is effective in conveying the complex emotions that this film is made of.

Arjun Mathur, who plays the confused protagonist, Dev Anand, succeeds in displaying a variety of emotions ranging to elation to exhaustion fabulously. His chemistry with the equally good Sugandha Garg who plays Anika, has come out well and scenes between the pair are very realistic in terms of acting & dialogues.

Sugandha proves her mettle in her confrontation scene with Arjun and also in the climax. Credit to her as well as to the make-up crew for being able to intricately highlight the difference between her present and the ‘Young-and-stupid’ phases.

The supporting cast consists of the inimitable Mohan Kapoor and the exquisite Ishwari Bose-Bhattacharya. While Mohan excels in his exuberant role as the trusting & loving husband of Anika, Ishwari delights in her comfort in essaying the role of a ‘Keep’. It shows that a lot of effort has gone behind designing Ishwari’s characterization. Her dressing, subtle naughtiness, inherent goodness, quirky display names in her phone, play a vital part in the audience being able to recall her long after the movie is over.

Generally films set in lush rural locales are a cakewalk for cinematographers and most of them end up over indulging by filling up transitions of nature shots. Credit to Yogesh Jaani that he has not fallen prey to this adage by being highly restrictive on nature shots yet when he decides to show it especially the climax, it is breathtaking indeed. Prasad Ruparel’s Music too supports the film ably.