It was a hectic afternoon at Cinemax Versova, where I had gone to catch Love Wrinkle Free, an independent film that was chosen by Uma DaCunha to be screened at the MAMI Film Festival in Mumbai. Officious looking people with badges dangling from their necks were all over the place, huddled in groups, shouting out to others across the hallway or speaking animatedly into their mobile-phones.
Then, in a corner I saw the cast and crew of Love Wrinkle Free huddled in a group, their nervousness evident and excitement palpable. Ashwin Mushran, Ash Chandler and Giju John looked like they were standing on pins and needles but still managed to put on a smiley face when friends like Nausheen Ali Sardar, Fahad Samar and Junelia Aguiar came in to watch the preview.
Since I’m no film critic, I wont even attempt to discuss the nuances of the film except to tell you that it’s one of those “feel-good” films where you come away with a warm feeling towards the main characters (Ash Chandler and Shernaz Patel) in your heart.
The story revolves around a Goan simpleton called Savio and his wife Annie (played by Ash and Shernaz). He works in an underwear manufacturing company (enough scope for multiple jokes there) while she runs a restaurant and has ambitions to sing in the Church choir. They have an adopted daughter called Ruth who is obsessed about the fact that she doesn’t look like her parents.
The story kicks-off when Annie discovers she is pregnant (and she is post 40 years old), Savio is conned into leaving his company and starting off his own brand, only to be cheated of a huge amount of money and Ashwin Mushran (who plays a pot-addicted loser) falls in love with Annie.
However, the piece-de-resistance in the entire film is Sorabh Adreshir’s role of an eccentric club owner who is obsessed with a healthy head of hair…. and having grand-kids from his son (played by Ashwin).
The Producer of the film, Giju John (from New York) also finds himself a role in the film as a motivational speaker who gets his class, well, motivated, with salsa dancing. Hence, the soundtrack has a lot of energetic Senorita style songs and Shibani Kashyap has been roped in to sing the theme song. And that, in itself, is enough reason to watch the film!