Photo Prem review: Equal amounts of chucklesome and soul-stirring

3.5/5

Aditya G. Rathi and Gayatri Patil have created the perfect concoction for a heartwarming tale of a woman who is grappling with overcoming her inhibitions in Photo Prem. Sunanda, affectionately known as Maee and beautifully brought to life by Neena Kulkarni, is the quintessential traditional wife.

She is the perfect example of a diligent - but stereotypically Indian - homemaker, who caters to every need of her rather patriarchal husband. Sunanda is blissfully accepting of her one great fear - she’s extremely photophobic, to the point where her husband has to cut her out of group photos to obtain a passport photo. But what was once just a thought at the back of her mind starts casting a shadow of doubt over her future - will she be remembered when she’s gone if she does not have a good photograph that can be framed?

The film begins on the day of the Kulkarnis’ daughter’s wedding, reeling the audience in immediately by amusing them with the photographer's interaction with the newlyweds. As the couple attempts to strike poses done to death in all Indian weddings, Maee is seen expressing her discomfort at being in front of a lens. She barely even looks into the camera or waits for the shutter to go off, for it is apparent that she is in agony over being the subject of the photographer. This establishes her fear of being captured in a way that makes us laugh but also hurts our heart a little - her anxiety and feeling of being left out is clear as day.

Maee wishes for nothing to change, she’s content with her life and her phobia. It only takes one incident for her perception of the importance of photographs to change. When her husband receives a call about the death of a colleague’s wife, the two rush to the latter’s house. Here, she makes a startling discovery - the deceased has no photographs that can be used for her obituary. This sends Maee into a pit of overthinking and she delves into the possibility of her own future. Certain that she will not be remembered if she cannot find a photograph that her loved ones can frame and put up on a wall, she starts frantically looking for photos in the next couple of weeks. Her dismay at this thought is amplified by her dejection at not even being in her daughter’s wedding album.

Photo Prem guarantees lighthearted fun, especially in moments where Maee starts to regularly skim through the obituary section of newspapers to judge photographs or her one-sided conversations with the mysterious character she meets at the colleague’s wife’s funeral. But even in these moments, there is an element of desperation in Maee’s behaviour. She is horrified by the thought that she will be forgotten by her daughter and her children in the future and cannot find contentment till she has taken care of this.

The film delicately and delightfully traces Maee’s journey of slowly gaining confidence and finding her best angles, just like a pro, until her resolve to leave a lasting impression through her obituary is weakened by her nephew’s sudden death. Before you know it, Photo Prem will have you wiping tears away, when it was only seconds ago that you were grinning wide.

However, what Maee always believed to be silly thoughts about the memory of her are solidified as genuine concerns and feelings when her sister-in-law recalls a photo that she would like in her obituary. Tearfully smiling at having finally been understood, Maee finds the courage to visit a professional photographer, where she finally taps into how she wants to look in the photograph that will be looked at by generations to come. The film closes with Maee’s photograph looking down at her daughter and husband, who say that the woman in the photograph looks nothing like Maee. She’s left exasperated, the screen cuts to black and the audience is left laughing at the ludicrousness of it all.

On the whole, Photo Prem is much more than a comedic drama. It is a comment on how everyone wants to be remembered when they’re gone, even someone like Maee who detests being in front of the camera. The character of Maee is portrayed to perfection by Neena