The Forest

Director: Ashvin Kumar

Cast: Jaaved Jaffery, Ankur Vakil, Nandana Sen and Saleem Ali Zaidi

The Forest is a taut thriller by Oscar nominated (for Little Terrorist) filmmaker Ashvin Kumar. For the uninitiated, he is the son of celebrated designer Ritu Kumar. One would expect his full length feature to be about fashion but he’s made a film where the forest becomes a metaphor for changing human relationships.

The film revolves around three college friends, Pritam (Ankur Vikal), Radha (Nandana Sen) and Abhishek (Jaaved Jaffery). There are no flashbacks; we get to know all this through dialogue when they accidentally meet after a gap of 12-15 years. Both Pritam and Abhishek had a thing for Nandini but she married Pritam. The couple don’t have children. Abhishek has a 10-12 year old son but his wife has passed away. Pritam and Radha come to this back-of-beyond forest reserve to sort out relationship issues and are surprised to find Abhishek, whom they thought would be a big shot in England, posted as a forest in-charge. The junior forest officer turns the couple away, saying that the rules forbid human interaction with protected animals at this close range but they are allowed to stay, thanks to Abhishek’s intervention. They don’t know that Abhishek didn’t do them a favour, he  has other plans in mind… plans which go awry when a man-eating leopard enters the fray.

The slick screenplay keeps you hooked to the human drama which enfolds as the protagonists battle their baser instincts to keep the animal at bay. There are several, ‘oh f***’ moments which would do any Hollywood thriller proud. Kudos to director of photography Markus Huersch and sound designer Roland Heap for their brilliant inputs as it’s the zany camerawork and the bang-on background score which keep you on tenterhooks.

A film is only as good as its actors. Child actor Saleem Ali Zaidi (who plays Jaaved’s son Arjun) is a real find. He grows from being a motherless boy who hero worships his father to someone who goes through a troubled loss of innocence to understand that the adult world is shrouded in shades of grey. Ankur Vakil and Nandana Sen bring all the nuances of a troubled marriage alive with natural ease. Jaaved Jaffery too gives a restrained performance as a man who loses his way and is painfully reminded that it’s never easy to stray off the path.

Ashvin Kumar has made a fine, impactful film. The thriller gives forward the message that human integration is harmful to the ecology without being preachy. The film is 90 per cent in English and it would be better if he dubs it in Hindi as the message needs to reach the small towns and villages which border the forests.