REVIEW TASHI

Producers-: Shilpa Krishnan Shukla, Mathew Jenif Joseph

Director: Shilpa Krishnan Shukla

Star Cast: Charan Singh, Anvita Gupta, Sai Pogaru, Ila Maheshwari and Tania Mukherjee

Genre- Social

Rating- ***

Sensitive & Subtle!

Jyothi Venkatesh

Tashi, or 'good energy' in Tibetan, is a film that stays true to its title and warms the cockles of your heart. It predominantly revolves around Radhika (Tania Mukherjee) a 40 plus single woman who has had to make a lot of sacrifices to take care of her ailing mother Vandana Mehta (Ila Maheshwari) who is living with her daughter in Singapore after undergoing surgery for a tumor. The best part of Radhika is that she is really rooted to the earth and she is humane in flesh and blood who feels the burden at times of looking after the loveable spirited old lady who yearns to celebrate Diwali with her son and daughter, when her son Sanjay (Charan Singh) lands all of a sudden one day to see his ailing mother, though the festival is still 10 months away.

Married and settled in London, Sanjay has been so engrossed with problems at his job and in his marriage that he has shirked in taking care of his mother, or so does his sister Radhika think. Ved (Sai Pogaru), is a visitor who has booked an Airbnb room at the family's apartment, who is helped by the family to heal as he has gone through an irrevocable heartbreak. Anvita Dutta, who plays the cute help Priya, who is shown to have been tormented by her alcoholic husband is keen on making her son study  with her earnings.

The film, though bland at times with its pace literally becoming static with no movement in the progress of the plot lacking drama is saved by the conversations between the different characters revolving around life partners, their heartbreaks, regrets, dreams and life in general. Through their conversations with each other over the next few days, they bond with one another, and end up sharing their pain and joy and rebuild their relationships. Thankfully the brilliant direction by Shilpa Krishnan Shukla spares us of any clichéd formula and black is black and white is white and there is no attempt to compromise as far as the story is concerned to cater to the tastes of the audiences.

While Tania Mukherjee lends a special dignity to her performance with her effortless ease in performing her role as Radhika, Charan Singh ably complements her as her brother Sanjay who is fighting his own demons after his break up with his wife. Ila Maheshwari is the life of the film while Anvita Gupta as Priya scores as the maid who struggles to educate her kid. Sai Pogaru as Ved is just about average. To sum up, Tashi sets out to etch out interpersonal human relationships without bothering to glorify them but with a matter of fact approach and makes you feel that you are also a part and parcel of the family of Vandana Mehta, Radhika and Sanjay.