Manmarziyaan
2018 · Directed by Anurag Kashyap
Original language: Hindi
- romance
- drama
The story
A spirited girl finds herself caught in a complicated love triangle while burdened with societal and familial pressures.
What it’s like
Warm, grainy, lived-in colour from a Punjabi city where tiled rooftops, crowded wedding halls and sweaty summer nights glow under tungsten bulbs and sodium streetlight, with the handheld camera staying close to faces during arguments and dancing. The music is loud and kinetic, with Punjabi folk-pop beats and bhangra thumping through bars and celebrations, then dropping away for quieter, emotionally raw moments in cramped rooms. The mood is restless and sultry, a romantic tangle that veers between playful, sharp and bruised, like a late-night drive with the windows down and something unresolved in the air. Pacing is brisk and uneven, with noisy set pieces giving way to long, wounded silences. Its people are impulsive, stubborn and often cruel to each other before they are kind, and the arcs follow a woman refusing to be packaged by family expectations while two men compete for her. Intensity is moderate: some shouting, slammed doors, a few tense confrontations and an arranged-marriage pressure that feels heavy, but no real violence beyond a brief scuffle, and sexual content is implied rather than shown. It suits viewers who enjoy messy, emotionally honest romance, Bollywood-leaning music, and a heroine who is not easy to like or to pin down.
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