Film review: 'The Great Indian Butterfly'

Film: The Great Indian Butterfly

Cast: Aamir Bashir, Sandhya Mridul
Director: Sarthak Dasgupta
Rating: * * ½.

 

Most movies are entertainment-driven, but a few movies, apart from entertaining, also raise pertinent questions that stay in your mind. The Great Indian Butterfly belongs to this group.

 

People travel miles, cross borders, go on an endless pursuit to attain happiness, peace, love and luck, which would make their journey on this planet memorable. The Great Indian Butterfly talks of a couple on the brink of a failed relationship and who travel from Mumbai to Goa to ‘trace’ the butterfly that would make their lives full of sunshine.

 

A beautiful thought undoubtedly, but how one wishes director Sarthak Dasgupta would’ve narrated the story concisely, without overstretching it to almost two hours.

 

The Great Indian Butterfly mirrors a reality. You empathise with the on-screen characters and that’s one of the reasons why this film works. But the flipside is that English-language films cater to a niche audience in India, which means you lose out on a big chunk of audience. Also, in this case, the awareness level of The Great Indian Butterfly is zilch.

 

Krish [Aamir Bashir] and Meera [Sandhya Mridul], a young couple, go in search of a legendary magical insect — The Great Indian Butterfly. Last seen by an unknown Portuguese explorer, in a remote valley located in Goa, the butterfly possesses a magical aura, granting immense happiness, peace, love and luck to the person who catches it. Will Krish and Meera find the elusive and mystical Butterfly?

 

Director Sarthak Dasgupta is clearly in a mood to narrate a real story. Hence, the conversation between the lead characters is equally real and also very relatable. The cinematography, while the car is in motion, is appreciable.

 

But the story stagnates in the second hour. In fact, there’s not much movement in the story and it also starts getting repetitive. Plus, an overdose of songs [not required]. But, thankfully, it picks up towards its finale.

 

The film is embellished with bona fide performances by Aamir Bashir and Sandhya Mridul. Aamir is a remarkable actor and it’s a pity that we haven’t tapped his acting abilities in our movies. Ditto for Sandhya, who deserves much more than what she’s being offered. Koel Purie is efficient in a small role. Barry John is alright.

 

On the whole, The Great Indian Butterfly is for lovers of art house cinema mainly. Unfortunately, the awareness of this film is zilch and that would hamper its stay at theatres.