Piya Re review: Intended romantic tragedy is a complete waste of time

Abhimanyu Mukherjee began his career as a director with romantic tragedy Noor Jahaan (2018) and has continued with the same genre in his recent film Piya Re. Noor Jahaan did not have an original storyline but touched on the issues of honour killing and class politics with a realistic depiction. However, Piya Re doesn’t seem to a have concrete storyline at all, rather till the end, it feels that one episode after the other have been added to the plot just for the sake of extending its length.

Though the film begins with a cricket match between the protagonist and his rival, presented with jarring mega-serial type editing in the credits, it doesn’t generate any anticipation or offer a visual treat. For most of the part, it is a struggle to watch the film. The entire plot progression, along with the twists, is highly melodramatic. The continuous weeping of the male protagonist doesn’t turn the audience emotional rather bores them to the core.

The intended comic parts of the film are not even unintentionally funny. After experiencing a lot of fooling around in the first part, the audience might expect some serious dramatic intensity as the plot progresses. However, in every half an hour of the second part, it feels like the film is going to end, but unfortunately it doesn’t.

Rabi, (Soham Chakraborty) is the son of a lower middle-class businessman and trades in clothes, along with a few friends. He has a long rivalry with Aditya, the son of rich restaurateur, for reasons not explained anywhere in the film.

Riya (Srabanti Chatterjee) is a bubbly and strong headed girl from the slums. Her brother Madhab (Kanchan Mullick) is a notorious thug. One day, while playing with a few slum kids, she unintentionally hurls a stone at Rabi, riding on his bike. While Riya admits to her fault and expresses her wish to pay for the compensation, Rabi falls in love with her at first sight.

Not quite following a logical course of action, Rabi asks her out for coffee. Riya agrees to the proposal, but asks him to take the slum kids along with them. Rabi, only finds out a very expensive coffee shop to hang out, where seven pastries cost Rs2,500!

Rabi eventually proposes to Riya, but the latter declines, claiming she doesn’t want to get involved with anyone in the near future. Rabi doesn’t mind as long as she doesn’t date anyone else and maintains a friendship with her.

Aditya, on the other hand, also pursues Riya and tries to win her heart with gifts. He also tries to help by proposing to shift her mother to a better nursing home, when the latter gets admitted in a simple hospital due the attacks of asthma. However, during this time, as Rabi too helps Riya in taking care of her mother and during her exams, the two get closer. Riya shows signs of breaking her vow.

Meanwhile, Madhab gets imprisoned for attempting a murder. When he returns, the mother asks for money from him, but the latter leaves the home in anger. She then desperately asks Riya to find a way to collect the money.

The drastic step that Riya takes in order help her mother financially changes the course of the story. While Rabi and Riya both continue to love each other, do they ever unite?

Till the end of the film, the reason behind Riya’s mother’s urgent requirement for money is not clarified. Also, in the second half, Riya’s brother’s sudden transformation doesn’t make any sense. Though, the film has a tragic climax, the cause of the tragedy turns out to be unintentionally funny.

All the performances in the film are quite high-pitched. While Srabanti and the character who plays her mother, scream most of the time, Soham delivers an overdramatic performance throughout.

Kanchan Mullick is quite convincing as the villain, though his character doesn’t have much agency in the film. There are also few other characters that are completely redundant, including the one of Aditya’s father.

Souvik Basu’s camerawork and Mohammed Kalam’s editing do not deserve special mention. Jeet Gannguli’s soulful compositions are perhaps the only positive aspects of the film.

The entire concept of the storyline of the film is quite outdated and exhausting as well.

Piya Re can be a complete waste of time, if one goes to watch it with the expectation of a heart-wrenching love story.