Goldfish, Review:  Without your memory, you are like a goldfish out of water

Probably used as a metaphor for the memory lapses of its central character, who is suffering from dementia, the goldfish, believed to have a memory span of three seconds, has, in fact, a rather long memory. On the website Live Science, the short-memory theory has been debunked, “In reality, goldfish (Carassius auratus) have much longer memories — spanning weeks, months and even years. And the science to back this up has been around for more than 60 years.” So now, let us take the goldfish just as a childhood gift given by the protagonist to her daughter, instead of a puppy. And the entire goldfish episode, which comes later in the film, is extremely well-handled. There are moments of brilliance in Goldfish, but not enough to swim through 104 minutes, which is a pity, because the film has powerhouse performances from the lead duo and above par support from characters who hover between white, black and grey.

Anamika (Ana) Fields comes to her mother (Sadhana Tripathi)’s home in London after years, when she hears that there was a fire in the house, and that it was accidentally triggered by Sadhana herself. Ana knows about the growing dementia her single mother is suffering from, and considers sending her to a Care facility. While staying there, she learns various things about her mother through her neighbour, Keralite nurse Lakshmi, who was trafficked into working for a British family, and a few other Indian immigrants, who live in the lane. Her relationship with her mother is tempestuous, and accusations are traded freely. One of these involves the gift of a goldfish to a young Ana, and its subsequent fate. One day, Sadhana has a fall in the bathroom and dislocates her elbow. While Ana tries to call an ambulance, somebody among the small crowd that has gathered there, yanks it back in place. Ana finds this shocking.

With a job offer round the corner, Ana thinks of selling the house, but, to her horror, she discovers that it has been willed to the local grocer, Ashwin Raina. Putting two and two together, Ana concludes that her mother and Aswhin are having an affair. Meanwhile, Lakshmi wants to respond to the National Health Service’s call to all retired nurses to re-join their positions, in view of the health situation (probably Coronavirus), but her daughter will not let her. She comes and cries at Sadhana’s shoulder. Later, she volunteers to look after Sadhana, morning to evening, for free, so that she can get out of the house. Tragically, her sugar shoots up one day, she has a paralytic stroke, and dies in the hospital. Ana is at the crossroads now. Her boy-friend wants her to get out of that house and accept the job offer in Basel (Switzerland) that might come any day. She is in two minds about sending her mother to a Care home, because her dementia and forgetfulness will only increase, and she lives alone. Besides, she wants to sell the house, but cannot do so because it is willed to Ashwin.

Having a very English feel, including some words and idioms that might not be commonly understood in India, Goldfish is written by Pushan Kriplani and Arghya Lahiri. Arghya has been around since 2007 but this is only the second film he has penned. Pushan is the son of actor Jayant Kriplani and Gulan, has crossed the Threshold from cinematographer to director for the second time. The title is very common, in that there are several movies with the word Goldfish in them. One is a romantic comedy. This Goldfish is anything but a romantic comedy. It is sombre, confronting, questioning, accepting, rejecting, reflecting, interjecting, remembering and forgetting…in a word, polymorphous. With a thin premise, it needs a few side characters to prop-up the story, and although none of them, except Lakshmi, are well-delineated, they, nevertheless, tend to drag the film downwards.

In terms of directorial style, Pushan shows a clear penchant for cutting at the end of questions, with the answer following in subsequent shots. This grips you initially, but becomes predictable after the first few occurrences. All the actors appear well-prepared, a consequence of many readings and rehearsals. It was a great piece of casting, getting Deepti Naval to play the mother and Kalki Koechlin the daughter. The little Hindi or Urdu that we hear comes mainly from the mother’s mouth or through songs that play in the background. A cassette player and a turn-table among the mother’s possessions, utilitarian, not just junk, will bring a nostalgic smile on the face of the 40+ audience. This contrasts wonderfully with the use of cell-phones all around, especially in the scene where Lakshmi breaks her mobile phone because her daughter wants her to stay at home, and what use is a mobile phone, when you are not mobile?

Considering Sadhana had willed her house to Ashwin, his character needed some more footage and depth. One wonders why Lakshmi has to take care of Sadhana, when Anamika is around. Several tracks are not led to their conclusion and left to the imagination of the viewer.  The climax seems to have been shot in a hurry and is not wholly convincing. The romance, if that is what it is, between Sadhana and Ashwin is trifled over.

It needed accomplished actors to pull off Sadhana and Anamika, and what better than to get Deepti Naval and Kalki Koechlin? Deepti has the experience that a mother’s part needs and Kalki is a daughter who immerses herself in the character. Having no inhibitions, Deepti lives the role. Kalki is not afraid to confront Deepti and give her a piece of her mind, even if it means yelling. It is a welcome return to cinema halls, after four years, for Kalki. If there is any fault in their performances, it is in being over-prepared. Rajit Kapur as Ashwin conveys sincerity. If only his role was better written! Talents from the United Kingdom – Bharti Patel, Gordon Warnecke, Noa Bodner, Ravin J. Ganatra, Nitin Batra, Richard Dryden, Komal Amin, Omar Khan, Ashraf Ejjbair, Perri Snowdon, Shanaya Rafaat, all acquit themselves well, in this Indo-American-British co-production, with Bharti Patel as Lakshmi Natarajan (Mrs. N) and Shanaya Rafaat as Tilly (Tilottama) making very favourable impressions.

Original music by Tapas Reija and beautiful lyrics by Kausar Munir adorn the film, which is edited by Pradip Patil. Cinematographer Pushan Kriplani shoots the film is TV style, with many mid-long, close-up and two-shots. Presented by Anurag Kashyap, Goldfish is not for the hoi polloi. Nevertheless, such films need to be made. They need to made, and made better. If tests are carried out across the country, the number of persons suffering from some kind of mental disorder would be startling.

Watch it if you may. It won’t hurt.

Rating: ** ½

Trailer: https://youtu.be/tcRq9j4kzQ4