IFFI 2023 | ‘Gandhi Talks’ movie review: Silent film fulfills part of its mission

Kishore Pandurang Belekar's 23-yr-old dream of making a silent film is realised with 'Gandhi Talks'. Starring Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swamy, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sidharth Jadhav, it follows Mahadev's (Sethupathi) struggle to find a job and his accidental meeting with a wealthy businessman. AR Rahman's music and the star-studded cast make it an engaging watch, despite some flaws. Belekar deserves credit for daring to make a silent film in an era of loud pan-Indian films.

An idea that becomes an obsession can pull one along through adversities and make one go great lengths to realise it, but it could also make you lose sight of other things that make a movie work. Filmmaker Kishore Pandurang Belekar, by his own admission, revealed at the premiere of his silent film Gandhi Talks at the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that the idea of making a silent film has been with him for the past 23 years.

And, Belekar does go great lengths to ensure that the characters don’t have to speak, although at times, one can also see him struggling to convey something without dialogues and resorting to shortcuts, like closeup shots of text messages or characters breaking into sign language. Yet, Belekar deserves praise for sticking to the idea that he believed in, and being able to realise it effectively to an extent.

Gandhi Talks revolves around Mahadev (Vijay Sethupathi), an unemployed man who attempts everything in his power to land a job, but fails. When he accidentally meets Boseman (Arvind Swamy), a wealthy businessman, whose empire is about to fall apart, he hits upon an idea that could change his life. The backgrounds of the principal characters might bring back memories of that iconic silent film Pushpak, but that is where the similarities end. 

Part of what drives the narrative is A.R. Rahman’s music, which occupies almost the entire duration of the film, often acting as a stand-in for the words that have been silenced. It is not for nothing that the musician proudly called the film his “showreel” and a “gift for a composer” at the premiere. Also peppered across the narrative are quite a few short songs, five of which Rahman said he had composed just last week. 

The title of the film appears as a lament for Gandhi being reduced to just a face on the currency notes (and sanitation campaigns), because the ideals that he lived by are hard to reach for. But, in reducing most ills of the society to just corruption, it traverses the simplistic track followed by some social messaging-oriented movies of the 1980s and 90s. 

Parallel to the poor man-rich man narrative runs a love story that begins promisingly enough. In what appears to be a spoof of typical Bollywood romantic scenes of a couple catching sight of each other for the first time, Mahadev catches a glimpse of Gayatri (Aditi Rao Hydari) through smoke emanating from a mosquito fogging machine in a crowded Mumbai chawl. But, then it traverses along the paths taken by usual romances. 

Vijay Sethupathi, as usual, eases into the role, and even makes one think that he has been acting in silent movies all along with the natural flair that he brings to the table. With his role as a quirky, petty thief, Sidharth Jadhav manages to stand out in a star-studded lineup. Made engagingly for most parts, the film loses its way in an extended sequence set inside Boseman’s palatial house, but it does manage to redeem itself to an extent towards the end of that sequence, although one cannot say that about the epilogue.