Socha Na Tha

A romantic film set in India. Viren goes to a meeting his family has arranged. The girl across from him is Aditi. Neither of them wants this. Left alone in the room they talk. They agree: both will say no. The refusal happens and it is over. But they stay friends. They telephone and tell each other everything. Viren has a girlfriend. Karina is the girl he has been with for years and they are to be engaged. Aditi finds someone too. Karan is a good man and the family approves. From there the film is a story about delay. Both of them feel something and both say it at the wrong time. Every time one is available and the other is not. The narrative builds this as a series of missed moments and dramatises none of them. The family line is always running. An engagement, wedding preparations, relatives, and nobody able to make a decision alone. What the narrative is interested in is not love but indecision: its idea is that neither of them knows what they want, and that everyone around them is ready to decide for them. Viren is not drawn as likeable. He keeps running, keeps postponing, and is honest with no one. The tone is quiet. The narrative builds no big scenes and the songs do not cut in. This is Imtiaz Ali's first film and it failed commercially; he became known by working the same theme in his later films. It is also Abhay Deol's first lead. Abhay Deol, Ayesha Takia, Apurva Agnihotri and Suresh Oberoi are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes quiet Indian romance and love stories without grand gestures. Who it is not for: anyone looking for pace; the narrative moves very slowly and the same indecision repeats many times.