While the film is set among cops, it does not involve any crime solving.
Relying almost exclusively on single-take scenes and eschewing music, Ayr details the obstacles in Soni and Kalpana’s way with low-key, quasi-documentary detachment. At its best, that pace creates a trancelike feel, but a few scenes extend their welcome and become plodding.
In this world, men casually assume they are entitled to say or do whatever they want to women, and the slightest interactions can become fraught. After the biking episode, Soni is transferred to the police switchboard and watches as a caller asks an operatorfor her personal number. Even a women’s restroom becomes a contested space.
The pressure is less overt but just as constant at home. Soni’s ex-boyfriend (Vikas Shukla) sweetly but insistently tries to talk her into a reconciliation. Kalpana’s mother-in-law keeps asking how long she’ll have to wait for a grandchild.
Kalpana’s calm never wavers while Soni struggles, usually unsuccessfully, to control her temper amid the casual machismo. Ayr does not offer any tension-releasing catharsis, making his film efficiently disquieting in its own unassuming manner.
—
‘Soni’ is not rated. In Hindi, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.