Saanjh Movie Review

“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.