Ek Din
Starring Junaid Khan, Sai Pallavi
Directed by Sunil Pandey
“What is the point of dreaming if the dream is attainable?”… This is a thoughtful line we hear more than once in this refreshingly quiet and contemplative love story. Nothing happens here per plan. And yet that is the grand design of destiny: no plan is the plan in this elegantly sculpted love story with some of the most enticing Japanese locations we’ve seen in cinema.
Hats off to the film’s architects for shooting the film on location in the heart of Japan. And then tiptoeing into Japan’s unexplored locations for a sighing, ‘Sai’ing, serenade that has no rationale. But then, when has love ever found reason?
Junaid Khan, playing the nerd to the hilt, is Dinesh, a computer geek so boring he is known as the invisible man in his office. He is what Clark Kent would be if there were no cape to escape. Dinesh silently adores office colleague Meera: who wouldn’t?!
Meera is played by the winsome Sai Pallavi, who is the kind of actor who can breathe life into a corpse. And Ek Din is far from that. This is an unusually quiet film, with characters who speak only when they must. I didn’t hear any unnecessary bantering or backchat; even when the narrative hits the friends zone, the dancing and drinking never induce our groan.
Most of the narrative zooms in on the two protagonists as they spend an entire day together in Sapporo, a part of Japan that is not entirely touristic, though it is not quite the secluded paradise the protagonists would like it to be.
Manoj Lobo lenses the tranquil spiritual topography with a casual reverence: the lovers love where they are. And so do we.
Or, perhaps ‘lovers’ is not quite the word for what Dinesh and Meera share across a day of bonding, which would change their lives irreversibly. Sometimes, love is not for lovers. The Snow Festival in Sapporo, where diligently mounted snow sculptures melt in just one day, serves as an evocative metaphor for the central relationship which has no future and no past; just one day and…it melts…. Or so it is meant to be, except that the screenwriters (Sneha Desai, Spandan Mishra) have other plans.
Ek Din is like an elegantly arranged symphony whose notes are not particularly profound. But they suggest an enduring harmony between the location and the heart. You can’t miss the sound of the breaking heart, not when Ram Sampath’s background score manifests a measured emotional undercurrent while the lead actors take centre stage.
And if all fails—and that’s not the case here—there is always Sai Pallavi, an actress so far ahead of the competition she makes the rest look like cheerleaders.
