Tasalli Se review: Nakuul Mehta-Naveen Kasturia starrer short film is a beautiful and heartwarming tale of friendship

4/5

Story:

The story revolves around two very friends, Somesh (Nakuul Mehta) and Ranjan (Naveen Kasturia), who had a fallout after a spat on social media but reconcile after 12 long years.

Review:

Social media is known to create problems in personal relationships, especially today when people rely more on these alternative modes of communication. A post or a comment can ruin relationships in this digital era where it is easier to block each other than to sit and sort out the differences in person. The short film, Tasalli Se is a reminder of who we really are and how important it is to communicate and not keep it just limited to the virtual world.

Directed by Tarun Dudeja, the short film is a beautiful story of two long-lost friends who were best friends, despite being poles apart from each other. They, however, have a fallout due to a misunderstanding and reconcile after 12 years. The story begins in the present, where Somesh (Nakuul Mehta) reaches out to Ranjan (Naveen Kasturia) to meet over a decade later. Their conversation starts from a small talk in a cafe, taunts and then leads to the two feeling nostalgic talking about all the fun times they shared together, wishing how they could have at least fought and sorted out the matter sooner. The entire story is conversational with no flashback scenes and yet, hits the chords with you. The clever use of the right lines from the poems of Mirza Ghalib and Munir Niyaaz makes the narrative even more heart-wrenching and impactful. '

The film highlights very subtly that the religious and political differences do not matter and that the only difference between human beings is good and bad people. Somesh emphasises that Ranjan is a good man and the issue was only that he could not accept someone due to the difference of opinions. And Somesh was probably egoistic that he could not see that Ranjan had unblocked him on social media four years ago. Despite not being on talking terms with each other, they knew what was going on in each other's lives, which is sweet.

The story is well-timed too. It talks about the friendship of the two and having a fallout 12 years ago, when social media was newer and people were excited to try it out. It is well written too and though it talks about the basic nature of humans and differences in opinions, it does not appear to be preachy. But it is philosophical. Ranjan points out how people are scared to have real conversations as they are worried that they would feel more hurt but the truth is they are hurting anyway. The story is well-paced. In fact, its crisp writing, short run time and intense performances by the popular actors Nakuul Mehta and Naveen Kasturia make it more impactful.

The anti-cliched climax of the story is even more beautiful. It shows how little things in life matter the most and the joy of sharing them with our near and dear ones is what we live for.

The story indeed prompts you to reach out to your friends whom you have lost contact with.

Verdict:

The short film is a beautiful story of two long-lost friends. It is intelligent, relevant, relatable, emotional and yet practical. Tasalli Se, featuring popular actors Nakuul Mehta and Naveen Kasturia, is a must watch.