Even though the nation went into a lockdown, it opened the doors of new emotions and a newfound appreciation for smaller things in life! Amazon Prime’s “Unpaused” explores this feeling of appreciation emerging from the lockdown and COVID and how it interacts with our emotions of love, hope, and loneliness.
2020 has impacted almost everyone in the most unfathomable manner, the emergence of COVID and lockdowns has changed the course of how we imagined our lives. This Hindi film, an anthology set in this lockdown depicts the tale of loneliness, love, and hope.
These stories range from different walks of life and genres, which amalgamated with a strong set of actors, and writing has covered and summed up the year 2020 in the most hopeful way one would expect.
Set in a future where several variants of covid replace the fear dividing the world between COVID Warriors and hyperalgesic individuals, this world revolutionizing the concept of “love” in the future is a story set in the sci-fi genre. Another story of poor migrant workers with no roof over their heads, trying to find solace in their own world of TikTok . But, unfortunately, their entertainment medium backfires leading them to embark on a journey of poverty.
Two lonely neighbors trying to find meaning and common ground in their lives to a story of an auto-driver helping a senior citizen live her life. How the lockdown has impacted the senior citizens and how an auto-driver helps her to realize how important family and connections are in order to fulfill our lives. This film provides a full circle of emotions ranging in several moods and genres. Each story helps the audience to relate themselves to one character to another, may it be a lonely neighbor, a volunteer helping migrant workers with food and water, or struggling to keep the love alive in the time of COVID and lockdown.
The strength of this film lies in its cast. The favorite Marathi actress from the film “Sairat” Rinku Rajguru with Lilete Dubey has presented a strong emotion of togetherness in the loneliness of times, a want of independence in their lives. Rinku Rajguru portrays a struggling character with the desire to be independent and prove her family her worth and with how little motivation from a neighbor she realizes the worth of life. Richa Chadda, Ratna Pathak Shah, Geetika Ohyan, and Abhishek Banerjee have personified the emotions of the characters in the most humanistic manner touching the emotions of the audience.
There are several key scenes, where a single expression by these performers reveals a plethora of emotions. The character of Geetika Ohyan, as a female migrant worker “Seema”, explores the aspirations of women, the desire to be liked, and the desire for a lavish life even in the worst of times. Her portrayal was phenomenal by all standards and in someway explored from an alternative perspective.
The Directors Raj & DK, Nitya Mehra, Nikkhil Advani, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Avinash Arun sync the audience with the genres though drastically different, it fits in perfectly for the strong narration.
“Unpaused” sets the new standard of film anthologies in the Indian film industry exploring how these stories can be commercial as well as inspirational.
