It's a core that is commendable and valuable but the lazy scripting and verbose dramatics here don't allow for much affection or empathy to creep in.
The Valley
Cast: Aly Khan, Suchitra Pillai, Agneeta Thacker, Jake T Austin, Salma Khan, Sameena Peerzada
Director: Saila Kariat
Rating: 
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An indie film directed by Saila Kairat, 'The Valley' seeks to throw light on mental health issues that could lead to depression and suicide. It's a core that is commendable and valuable but the lazy scripting and verbose dramatics here don't allow for much affection or empathy to creep in.
The immigrant story has been told many times in the past and with far more stunning impact than Kairat's 'The Valley' -which hopes to win it's audience over merely with it's simplicity of thought and flurry of over-written dialogue. Kairat's narrative that highlights the aftermath of a suicide and how the affected family tries to cope, gets a little too bookish and preachy in it's approach to story-telling.
The film could have had more of an impact if lead character Neal Kumar (Alyy Khan) a super-successful Indian American entrepreneur, had been written and presented with greater psychological depth. His journey towards realisation plays out as an investigative trip rather than an internal voyage towards greater understanding. His daughter, sensitive, aloof Maya's(Agneeta Thacker) suicide causes great upheaval in the family whose belief of security and impregnability gets shattered –that is understood but the manner in which it is presented here fails to evoke empathy or engagement. The parts of the wife Roopa(Suchitra Pillai) and older daughter Monica(Salma Khan) are better written and enacted though. Pillai in fact scores over the rest with her delicately embellished performance of an unappreciated wife and distraught mother trying to cope in her own defectively human way.
Like most films presented in English by Indian origin directors, this one too fails to find balance in it's verbal overtures. The over dependence on dialogue in a medium where the visual should in fact dominate, makes for a tedious and energy sapping experience. Kariat's scripting and helming abilities are certainly not sharp and impactful enough. And that's a failing that only experience can overcome!
Warch The Valley Trailer
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