Pagglait Review: Subtle & Entertaining!

Starring Sanya Malhotra in the primary role, Pagglait, 2021 Hindi-language comedy-drama explores the narrative of a young widow, Sandhya, who is unable to come to terms with her husband’s sudden demise. And through the 115-minute runtime, the storyline takes us through the journey of her discovering what she actually wants in life.

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Pagglait solely concentrates on the character of Sandhya and details her progression from Day 1 to 13 (the actual mourning phase) in a subtle way. From not coming to terms with her husband’s death to understanding the mistakes she unknowingly committed in her marital life and discovering her true passion. The manner through which director-writer Umesh Bist narrated his lead character’s transformation had to be applauded as it puts forth a great example of how every role had to be written in a full-length film.

Yet another compelling aspect of Pagglait is that its characters are very relatable, well written, and will hit very close to home. I was able to find all kinds of varieties that I come across in my everyday life, from a drama-filled overprotective, and superstitious mother to an overburdened father, nosy maasis, and “always-have-something-to-bitch-about” uncles, who are the originators of chaos in the household.

And complementing the characters, the performances in Pagglait from the entire cast are spot-on. Above all, the lead actor, Sanya Malhotra, fits into her character as the young widow perfectly and impresses with her subtle emotions and body language. Among others is Raghubir Yadav, who plays the uncle, Roshan Sethi. He stands out from the remainder of the supporting cast and provides a few quick-fire laughs here and there.

Moving on to the negatives, the pacing of Pagglait felt a bit off at times, especially in the middle portion. As I’m sure you’ll begin to wonder about what really is the overall takeaway of the film and whether it is heading in the right direction.

But the delicate dark humor, social commentary regarding family drama, and ancient versus new-age thinking kept the film fresh and decently entertaining. Arijit Singh’s debut work as a music director was impressive through and through as he’s able to blend in his soundtrack flawlessly with the overall plot as you will not even realize that there is a song playing in the background.

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Overall, Pagglait on Netflix explores the journey of Sandhya from being a caged housewife to an independent woman with intricate storytelling, relatable characters, and stellar performances from everyone involved. With Netflix India’s willingness to showcase a different and more down-to-earth side of Bollywood, films like Pagglait will have the ability to tell simple stories in a simple way without overly commercializing them. I wouldn’t say that this film is exceptionally good, but it did try to be different and at the same time, entertaining. Watch ‘Pagglait’ on Netflix here.

Rating – 3/5 | Grade – B

Images via Netflix India