2050 Care with Love: A lot of love and care, but little else

2050 Care with Love: A lot of love and care, but little else

On display here is a short film, shot in feature/TV serial episode style, where all the four main characters are sensitive, caring and loving individuals. As the film progresses, the qualities these individuals possess bloom on, and it all ends on a happy note. ‘Feel good’ is the operative term for 2050 Care with Love. But extricate yourself from the mushy situations on screen and apply film-making technique barometers, and you find the film wanting. A short film need not be so short as to leave a lot to the imagination of the audience, for whom the universe is the screen.

An Indian works in San Francisco, where he lives with his wife. His mother does not want to go to a foreign country and live with her son, having spent decades at their Bengaluru home. She suffers a mild stroke while alone at home, and manages to make a call for help. A dear friend of her son rushes to get her immediate medical treatment. He approaches a rehabilitation facility, which deputes an angelic nurse to tends to her and helps her with physio-therapy. The son comes down and asks her to go with him to the States. The answer, though obvious, will come as a spoiler.

There is a hint that the son does not care enough, when he cuts short his mother’s call, telling her that he needs to make another call, which he is not shown making. But when he speaks to his pal in Bengaluru and, later, comes down to India, he is as good as he can get. The rehabilitation takes some time, and Mom is not co-operation personified, but the angelic physio-therapist/nurse uses lofty language and literary similes to win her over and to co-operate.

All the characters are uni-dimensional. There is no back story about any of them. We see nothing of the background of the mother, the son and his friend, and absolutely nothing about the philosophising nurse. One wonders whether the mother, apparently in her late 70s, lives alone in Bengaluru, and if so, why, since it is obvious that she can afford to have a maid or house-help. The end is a big question mark, since the present is projected as the ideal state of affairs, with no guarantee of a continuum.

Performances are of a high order, led by the veteran Sulabha Ishan Arya. Jamie Lever, the daughter of Johnny Lever, lives the role as the south Indian nurse with miraculous persuasive powers. Three or four lines of Hindi dialogue (by Prajapati…I cannot remember the first name) are truly inspired, but sound unconvincing, because they come from a south Indian nurse, who speaks broken Hindi. Hitherto seen in comedic roles and as a mimic, Jamie can emote well and has acting potential. Avinash Dwivedi as her son, Trishaan Maini as his pal and Vaidika Senjaliya as the daughter-in-law, are all convincing. Direction is largely competent and the photography and editing are on par. The length is a little too short and the end abrupt.

Though there is 2050 in the title, the film is not futuristic and is set in present-day. In the film, 2050 happens to be the name of the company that provides therapy and nursing services. Produced by Santosh Kumar Acharya, under Elios Productions Pvt. Ltd, it is directed by Lakshmi R. Iyer, who is known for her previous works that include Appa (2017), First Second Chance, and Wrong Mistake. She is Director & Creative Head of Elios Pvt Ltd, a company she founded in January this year, she earlier founded, and was CEO of, Smartstreet Productions.

It hurts to see such well-intentioned films, with high end performances, unable to work out a well delineated screenplay, and suffer thereby. There is a lot of care and love in 2050, but little else.

Rating: **