Tries to be understated, but is ultimately underdeveloped

That’s an easy quality to underrate, as is the modest but careful craftsmanship and muted but honest performance style that makes “Photograph” — a film itself about the rewards of patiently building on first impressions — a winsome diversion. At the same time, it’s hard not to wish for an occasional hot surge of uncivil emotion in this mellow May-December romance between a hard-up street photographer and an introverted student from opposing social realms.

Rafi tells his customers that it is the sunlight in the Photographs that they will remember long after their visit to the tourist spot. That is true of this film as well. The languid grace and unswerving geniality inherent in the making stand out. They enhance the radiance of the overall cinematic composition and make Photograph a film that will stay etched in our memories awhile.

‘Photograph’ is sensitively rendered but staid…

The writing doesn’t pack the emotional urgency of The Lunchbox, and the characters aren’t as compelling. There is a delicate quality to the central relationship but it never takes flight. Batra keeps the story on slow-burn; how you wish he’d stirred things up from time to time.

In the end Photograph feels oddly out of focus.

Photograph is a fairly standard Mumbai-set slice of life drama. While there’s humour and pathos, Batra lacks a firm grip on the story and it starts to get away from him midway through the film, making it hard for anyone to really get lost in it. In the end, you can’t help but feel shortchanged.

It is still a sincere enough, easily digestible, curl-up-on-the couch film you wouldn’t mind watching, come the relentless Mumbai monsoon.

The narrative is an assemblage of beautiful events shot with breath-taking lucidity — by cinematographers Tim Gillis and Ben Kutchins. Mumbai beckons hauntingly as the two central characters make this seemingly fleeting tryst last a lot longer than what seems possible in real life. Photograph is the emblematic representation of that connection we seek in these disconnected times. It speaks to us, but not as much in words as in the moments that warm our hearts.

Photograph, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra attempts to embody themes of longing and nostalgia and leaves you feeling rather wistful at the end, says our movie review. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

For a picture is a moment, it doesn’t commit, it contains.

It has no past nor future, it is timeless.

That is the beauty of Batra’s delicate little gem.

It is what it would like to remember and not what unfolds.

If you like romance on slow burn, Photograph might appeal to you. Otherwise, just leaf through your own albums.

Unlike his earlier film “Lunchbox” (also about an unlikely romance), which became a surprise hit at the box office, Batra’s latest offering doesn’t quite hit the sweet spot.

It’s a snapshot into a shared moment in time, an improbable and unlikely one. 

But how can a film be an ode to films without doing what films do best?

Most would argue that Rafi and Noorie may never be together is real life.

And maybe that isn’t an incorrect assessment.

Their love story is so unrealistic, it only belongs in a movie. 

…with Photograph I was also left feeling a sense of void and dissatisfaction, in that it barely scratches the surface of what could have been a far deeper engagement. It chooses to provide just passing snapshots that don’t come together as a memorable album. The situations themselves feel consciously set-up, more deliberate rather than flowing along spontaneously.

Batra’s Lunchbox was set to a fast lane and recounts with uncertainty the romance between a couple belonging to differing backgrounds. It’s slow pace is thoughtfully calculate, and should not let the viewer drift away from its basic premise — the monotonous sameness of some people’s lives and their constant yearning for something that must be a welcome relief that could lead to fulfilling their innermost desires.

A tiny cameo by Vijay Raaz illustrates what this film needed more of: a touch of whimsy, a kind of magic. More of this, wrapped in Mohd Rafi’s honeyed voice (yes, that’s why Siddiqui is named Rafi) which wafts over the film, would have made this odd couple romance much more believable.

More than anything else, this film is poetry. Photograph reminds us to believe in minor magic. Here is a film about a city that makes room for everything, from formulaic films to ghosts. Like when posing for a camera, all we need to know is where to look.

Photograph isn’t a perfect shot and is lured by exquisite nothingness but it’s intriguing and takes you back in time. Like love and life, it’s uncertain and hopeful.

Photograph doesn’t come together as beautifully as The Lunchbox did. The screenplay isn’t as sharp or insightful. In places the film is so quiet that it feels inert. I’m not going to lie – I did get impatient. And yet the next morning, I found myself thinking about Rafi and Miloni. There is a tenderness that stays with you.

Regardless of what Photograph achieves in terms of box-office monetary gains, the film, an O’Henrisque story, leaves an idiosyncratic imprint of Mumbai and its quirky tales that we love.