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The film is a drama capturing the lives of two estranged brothers. One brother who leads a very successful life as a banker and the other who is a law school dropout and lives by the day. Fate brings them together when a tragedy that struck them 15 years ago re-manifests itself in a new avatar in their life.
Critic Consensus
Critical reception for Fireflies is largely negative to mixed, with most reviewers finding the film's slow pace and weak storytelling its central failings. Where praise exists, it tends to focus on the film's visual craft, sincere performances, and artistic ambition. However, the majority of critics found the narrative meandering and emotionally disengaging, with several noting that audiences are unlikely to connect with or care about the characters. A handful of reviewers acknowledged the film's distinctive tone and coming-of-age sensibility as partial saving graces.
13 reviews · 3 positive · 5 mixed · 4 negative
AI-generated summary of 13 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyCritic Reviews (13)
"There are patches which feel well –observed, especially when they are based in Mumbai's swish spots—pretty people talking about London flats, and well-attired investment bankers in their offices with a view. And, towards the end, when the reason for the bad blood between the brothers becomes apparent, the outlines of a plot become discernible, and you feel something there."Read full review ↗
"FIREFLIES is different. It's brilliant. It's coming of age cinema."Read full review ↗
"Fireflies is an imperfect film about flawed characters who disguise their spiritual ennui in tailored postures of sophistication.It's not a great film. But it's sincere and a largely well-crafted piece of cinema about fractured lives frozen in compromised relationships."Read full review ↗
"Fireflies beautifully sums up the concept of coming around in life and its Cecilia Ahern-ish tone of optimistic view of tackling unrequited love is what works as the film's USP. The brilliant performances of Arjun and Rahul reigns but in the end the flawed beauty of the film has an uncompromising flow in it. It is not a brilliant movie but is definitely worth a watch for its tone and pitch."Read full review ↗
"Fireflies is a brave effort, natural and languid for most parts. However, it fails to glow through its foreseeable conflicts and layers, and ends up being a statement in craft over storytelling."Read full review ↗
"It's only after intermission that the story picks a bit of a pace and ambles to a more effective arena. But you still keep guessing what's going on; that's the beauty of this film. It lacks the punch but keeps you glued."Read full review ↗
"Overall, the 'darkness' stays on for way too long, thanks to the troubled characters and their complicated relationships. If you are attracted to such melancholia, go for this one."Read full review ↗
"A painstakingly slow narrative fails to engage your senses..."Read full review ↗
"Fireflies is a well-developed story with a new concept, strong dialogues and an adept cast. However, its slow pace and intense scenes might comes across as bland and uninteresting for people who do not enjoy parallel cinema. However, if you are free this weekend, go watch this film for its refreshing plot and enthralling presentation."Read full review ↗
"The well-meaning plot of Fireflies is totally wasted for a singular lack of imagination and the over-dependence on stereotypes . Skip this one, unless you are looking for a depressing movie that only confirms to all norms of cliches in the name of an Indie film."Read full review ↗
"It looks good. But it doesn't really keep you interested in the goings-on. You couldn't care less about any of the characters. And that's always a bad sign."Read full review ↗
"Fireflies is is one giant cesspool of sadness and agony that is ever-expanding and will engulf every barely happy soul it can get its hand on..."Read full review ↗
"This film is shot artistically but it doesn't succeed in the craft of storytelling. It meanders along with fickle dialogue and long silences that just don't make sense. It's a classic case of superlative ambition foiled by bad writing and filmmaking."Read full review ↗
Cast & Crew
Cast
- Rahul Khanna · Shiv
- Arjun Mathur · Rana Rathore
- Shivani Ghai · Sharmila
- Monica Dogra · Michelle
- Aadya Bedi
Director
Writer
Music
Cinematography
Editing
Details
- Release Date
- 31 October 2014
- Runtime
- 103 min
User Ratings & Reviews
1 rating from the community
Community Reviews (1)
Fireflies, a film by a debutant director Sabal Singh Shekhawat, is an offbeat movie. The concepts of broken relationships, misunderstandings, passion, extra-marital relationships, getting back to past flames, free spirits to live, the philosophies of a life are all projected in this movie. But somewhere, the whole plot gets lost due to very slow tempo, loosely connected sequences, and also due to pitch of the dialogues being lower than that of the background music at times. The movie begins with the narration of Manda who introduces Shiv (Rahul Khanna) and Rana (Arjun Mathur) as her brothers. The opening scene has all three of them trying to catch and play with fireflies. Shiv and Rana are not in good terms with each other due to a misunderstanding in regard to a critical incident which happened in the past. Shiv is an IIM product and a successful investment banker, whereas Rana, in spite of being a law graduate, does odd jobs viz. that of mechanic or bartender etc. Shiv is married to a wealthy girl Maya (Aadya Bedi), but also gets into secret relationship with his ex-flame Sharmila (Shivani Ghai) when they bumped into each other after a long gap. On the other side Rana gets into a relationship with free-spirited writer Michelle (Monica Dogra) who comes to taste wine while he was in his job as a bartender. Later, both Shiv and Rana lose their love in different manner. That is when they again come back to their roots. Are they able to sort out the differences? Are they able to forego the past and move on in life? Where is Manda? What happens to Shiv's marriage? What was the whole concept of this movie? Was it to explore the estranged brother's journey to escape from each other in their own manner? Or, it was to project brothers' different paths. What played fireflies in their lives - Instant gratification, success, wealth, love, passion, lust…? Was the motto all about projecting disintegrated relationships? A philosophy of life is discussed: If one gets lost, still, he / she must keep walking. The world is round, and one would definitely find his / her way. Fireflies deserved a treatment which could have given this movie much more clarity, depth and intensity.















