So, on the midnight of the first day of the year 2024, I made one of the biggest mistakes. I saw Three of Us on my flight from Mumbai to Hyderabad. Throughout the time I was smiling, crying, and gloomy – literally emoting navarasas while being stared at by fellow passengers.
I was feeling happy for Shailaja (played by Shefali Shah). I was feeling sad for Dipankar (Swanand Kirkire). And I was feeling sorry for Pradip (Jaideep Ahlawat).
Cinematographer Avinash Arun, who’s also the director of the film, has shot beautifully well. Every frame was tailor-made. If I’m being honest, cinematography worked more than the stellar performances of Shefali, Jaideep, and Swanand. (OMG! I need to talk about Mr. Swanand Kirkire, but let me finish this thought).
The reason why I loved the camera work was because that’s how I would picturise a quiet village. That is totally my style of taking – slow dolly movement, careful camera tracking, wide-angle shots for perspective, and close-ups for intimacy. That’s how I shot some of my travel expeditions in the past to express my self-discovery/journey and that’s how I’d shoot if such a script is given to me – slow, chill, mellow, gloomy, and finally acceptance.
Cinematography 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾
I told you to remind me something, what’s that? Aah! Swanand Kirkire! I had no idea he was into acting. And how good was he! Uff! It is very tough to shift eyeballs when you have Shefali and Jaideep on either side. Yet, Mr. Kirkire had managed to do so. I would stand up and applause just for Swanand himself (ye kya Mr. Kirkire aur Swanand, Swanand aur Mr. Kirkire kar raha hoon mein! 🤷🏾♂️) {iykyk}.
Actually, I had my flight on Jan 2nd from Delhi to Hyderabad and I spent my New Year in the beautiful city of Udaipur. I had to catch a bus from there and go to Jaipur, and from there I needed to catch another bus within an hour and a half to Delhi. That’s how I gonna make it to the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. But fate (for the lack of a better word) had other plans.
My bus from Udaipur to Jaipur was on RSRTC and when it came to the bus stand, the driver gave a shock that there was a हड़ताल going on near Bhilwara and no buses were allowed beyond that, especially to Ajmer and Jaipur side. With that, my hopes of going to Jaipur and then to Delhi went into thin air just like the smoke from a cigarette.
I immediately looked for other alternatives to reaching home.
1. Checked flight from Udaipur to Delhi – too expensive and no direct flight.
2. Checked trains on Premium Tatkal to Delhi – none available.
3. Checked cab services to Delhi/Jaipur – even cabs were apparently stopped near Ajmer region.
Now that there was no option to go to Delhi, I started venturing towards Nagpur, Indore, Mumbai, and Pune.
4. Before that checked another bus to Jaipur – it was pointless.
5. Checked the bus towards Mumbai/Pune/Nagpur/Indore but it didn’t match the time to go to the office the next day i.e., on Jan 2nd.
6. The same was with trains.
7. Checked flights from Udaipur to Hyderabad but the cheapest was 25k.
By this time, I was already so frustrated and exhausted that nothing came to my mind other than me sinking onto my bed and sleeping at peace.
So, I just breathed hard and booked my flight to Hyderabad from Udaipur via Mumbai, and was waiting for the flight to land at Hyderabad. (Yes! It was the last option among the lot and yeah, it cost me 25-freakin-k, the cost of my 3-day short solo trip!)
I was supposed to reach Rajiv Gandhi International Airport by 21:15 but I was listening to the announcement every 15 minutes that the flight is delayed with scheduled departure. Finally, by the time boarding was complete, it was 22:00 and when I reached Hyderabad it was midnight 00:00.
So, with all that exhaustion, money spent, feeling low, and tiredness – I felt that watching Three of Us on the flight from Mumbai to Hyderabad was not a mistake after all! It was the only thing that gave me some calmness amidst the chaos. It was the only phase that made me smile a little when there was nothing else to feel happy about. I was Shailaja Desai during her revisit to Vengurla during that 1h39m runtime-slash-almost flight duration.
Dipankar felt he was the third wheel between her wife and her childhood love, Pradip Kamat. Pradip felt he was the third wheel between Shailaja and her husband. And finally, Shailaja felt herself to be a third wheel in her OWN life due to her condition.
