Not Today, written and directed by Aditya Kripalani, follows the emotional story of a girl’s first day working as a suicide prevention counsellor trying to keep a man from jumping off a building. In English and Hindi, with subtitles, the two main characters are compelling to watch as they converse only over the phone. Aliah Rupawala, played by Rucha Inamdar, and Ashwin Mathur, played by Harsh Chhaya, find they may have more in common with each other than they initially thought, and they may be able to help each other work through their own feelings. Always unsure if anyone is going to pick up the phone call, this film grips an audience with suspense and our connection with the characters.
The film jumps right in with the main character Aliah, played by Rucha Inamdar, training as a suicide prevention counsellor, who is learning about the absurd amount of prank callers that need to be blocked from their hotline. This is not a common starting point for a film or even included in many other films, showing right away that this story is unique and it’s worth watching because you likely haven’t seen it before. Aliah speaks to her first real caller that needs someone to talk to, and through their conversations they learn a lot about one another, and the audience can learn a lot about themselves through their conversation as well. Inamdar’s performance is heartfelt and real; her character shows the, sometimes naive, kindness of people wanting to help others out. Chhaya has an equally as moving performance as the 52-year-old standing atop a high rise threatening to jump. He reveals some of his mistakes he’s made in the past and rather than judge him, as an audience we are drawn to feel empathetic towards him and think back to how those mistakes relate to our own lives.
Kripalani has a very thoughtful use of dialogue which is especially important for a film that has a lot of its main action surrounding phone calls. She knew when to cut scenes short or keep them long to get the best drama and the most emotional performances. Simple shots are paired with simple dialogue that holds a lot of raw emotion from the actors, that are then followed by more mundane but realistic scenes to allow the audience time to feel through their emotions as well, and then some lighthearted humor to help break up the heavily dramatic moments. There are quite a few dynamic and interesting shots throughout the film, such as Aliah sitting on a divider in the middle of a busy highway, to add some visual engagement to balance the drama of the narrative.
A critique of the post-production of this film is the strange order of the credits. First, the order is not the traditional one that most are used to, beginning with cast, followed by production staff, music, special thanks. Then, it also goes back and forth between production staff, special thanks, cast, back to production, back to the special thanks, which I feel is unfair to everyone that put time and effort into the film and wasn’t one of the big-name contributors. It makes it difficult to find their names or people might skip giving credit to portions of that list in the future.
Overall, Not Today is a moving story featuring strong actors and an engaging story that many will be touched by. With that said, this film centers around the topic of suicide, which may be sensitive or difficult for certain audiences to watch for the duration of the film and one should be aware of the subject matter before deciding to watch.
Not Today screens at the Spring 2022 New Jersey Film Festival on February 18! To buy tickets click here.
The New Jersey Film Festival Spring 2022 will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through February 20, 2022. As a result of COVID our Festival will be a virtual one again this Spring. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. More info is available here: https://newjerseyfilmfestivalspring2022.eventive.org/welcome
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