“Saanjh” means evening. “Is a story of migration, separation, and solitude.”
This story is a gripping drama and thriller. Starting out in a big city in India a young teenage girl (Sanja) is the target of false social media posts. These posts seem to be her and look like her. After her father comes across one these video posts find his daughter in a promiscuous light. He exiles her off to the village where their family is from. Her father sends her to living with her grandmother. She doesn’t even know this woman or have a relationship with her at all. Sanja feels like she’s all alone and even worse because she hadn’t done anything wrong.
You can really feel Sanja’s angst after she is taken away from all she’s ever known to this village in the middle of nowhere.
She meets another house guest (Jonga) who has no tact or manner whatsoever. Eventually, Sanja becomes comfortable with his demeanour and actions. Even finding a friend of sorts.
Jonga is played by Vishal Parpagga who though young has a great deal of talent. He has studied theatre and has even received a B.A. for music studies. All of this he brings to his role.
As Sanja spends time with her grandmother she realises just how much she’s suffered. No one comes to visit her or call her. Even when Sanja’s father comes to drop her off with the grandma he hardly even acknowledges or speaks to her.
You can see the heartache and the suffering that Sanja’s grandma has gone through. Rupeshwari Sharma gives such a beautiful performance you can feel the sadness coming through even though she doesn’t say much of anything. Underlying, you can tell is so much more than your typical grandmother. Sharma does a wonderful job of showing the emotions that are just under the surface in her performance.
She has almost a non-existent relationship with her children. Sanja and her grandmother start to become closer and form a strong relationship. Just when it seems like things are going well her grandmother becomes ill.
The climax of the story hones in on this special evening between the two when they are together. Between light and darkness. Death and Life.
Young Aditi Charak gives a beautiful and moving performance of a young girl struggling with a difficult situation.
This movie is in two languages which would be geared toward a greater audience range. “Saanjh” is the first ever feature film to include both Himachali/Pahari and Hindi in it.
Film Details:
Genre: Bollywood, Hindi, Drama, Thriller
Cast: Asif Basra, Tanu Bhardwaj, Aditi Charak, Hoshiyar Singh, Gautam, Taranjit Kaur, Vishal Parpagga, Amit Patyal, Dhirender Singh Rawat, Medhavini Sharma, Rupeshwari Sharma and Sumit Sharma
Director: Ajay Saklani
Writer/Screenplay: Ajay Saklani
Production Company: Silent Hills Studio
Release Date: April 14th, 2017
Movie Runtime: 1 hour and 49 minutes
Official YouTube Trailer:
For more information on this film please visit the following sites:
Official Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/saanjhfilm/
Official Twitter:
https://twitter.com/saanjhfilm
Official Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/filmsaanjh/