Happy New Year 2024

8 AM Metro #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #everyone #everyone Film: #8AMMetro Cast: #SaiyamiKher #GulshanDevaiah #NimishaNair #RajivKumarAneja #UmeshKamat #KalpikaGanesh #MoinJaan #JayJha Co-writer/Director: #RajRachakonda Co-writer: #ShrutiBhatnagar #PlatoonOneFilms #Studio99 #1HMedia Rating: * * Runtime: 116 mins

A chance encounter on the 8 am Metro train leads to a tentative, rather unlikely friendship between strangers, a married man, and a married woman. Ira (Saiyami) suffers from panic attacks at the mere mention of a train. So it was providential that Preetam( Devaiah) happened to be there to lend a compassionate hand to help her at that crucial moment. The narrative is on slow burn and does not reveal much detail about the two main characters. As their friendship develops based on their suddenly rekindled interest in poetry and literature we see them bonding together and developing a certain affection. The writers/Director then makes the contrived ‘kafkaesque’ reveal which goes totally against what was shown in the first half. Long-winding, extremely stilted, awkward conversations with discussions of literature and poetry recitations are thrown in to make this entanglement of emotions seem high-brow. Though there’s some poetry in the dialogue, there’s not enough of it in the visuals ( most of them close-ups of the couple) to stimulate the audience's interest. The set-up feels fake and the development is manufactured. There’s nothing organic about this relationship. Even Gulzar’s poetry is lost in the superficial and vacuous depiction of an unusual love story