During this quarantine season, I have exhaustively reviewed movies of different languages be it Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi, English or even Spanish. While reflecting this, I realised I haven’t reviewed a single movie of my mother tongue – Gujarati (though I have watched plenty). And so to end my week, I asked my mother to handpick one. She picked Reva and so this is the one then that I start with, is it worth your time, stick around!

Reva (another name for the river Narmada) follows the story of Karan who after his grandfather’s death, has to travel to a small Ashram along the banks of the river Narmada in order to get an NOC from the trustees to stake his claim on the property. But life has other plans. The story is layered and extremely enriching! The screenplay is such that through Karan’s journey it also questions the purpose of life and touches on the questions related to spirituality and religion. The answers rightly so lie within. Karan being an atheist is forced to introspect eventually finding his purpose in life. A sort of thought process that most of us reflect in today’s modern times, yet even with the onset of technology, very little has changed from the perspective of life and its hidden meaning. All this and more are presented skillfully in a perfectly written screenplay! And this isn’t a serious film throughout, a good dose of humour is tactfully integrated in the narrative! The dialogues are filled with life lessons that urge you to think and reflect. The music is pretty good and the lyrics add purpose to the drama. A special mention of the cinematography that is indeed breathtaking. Directors Rahul Bhole and Vinit Kanojia have kept things utterly simple in tackling a complex and layered subject. Excellent job!

Atul Mahale and Abhinay Banker as Bittu Banga respectively are both very good. Prashant Barot as Guptaji is first rate. Rupa Borgaonkar as Puriya is excellent and has great screen presence. Yatin Karyekar as Shastriji is outstanding and you really feel like listening to him throughout as he educates the protagonist(and the audience) with certain life lessons. Dayashankar Pandey as Fakir is another character you wish to learn and listen to. Monal Gajjar as Supriya is endearing and a perfect foil for the protagonist. Chetan Dhanani as Karan is excellent and his character has the best character arc that I have seen in sometime. And it is his journey that adds value to the film!

Reva is an excellent watch and has in many ways fueled me for the next week. In hard times like these, such movies actually freshen up your mood and more importantly teach you a lesson or two about life. Available on Amazon Prime and Highly Highly Recommended! You cannot miss this!