Agastya Cine Dreams LLP’s A Winter Tale At Shimla (A) is the story of two ex-lovers who meet after many years.
Ex-lovers Chintan Kapoor (Indraneil Sengupta) and Vaidehi (Gauri Pradhan Tejwani) meet after many years. Chintan had gotten married, has since been widowed, and has a son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Vaidehi is married to DIG Uday Raj Singh (Deepraj Rana), and they have a daughter, Diya (Niharika Chouksey). Chintan comes to Shimla where Diya is his student. Diya loves Rahul (Dhruv Chugh). While Vaidehi is in favour of the affair, DIG Uday Raj Singh is against it.
Chintan often visits Vaidehi in Shimla, something which her husband is not comfortable with. So, the husband plans an accident in which Chintan could’ve died. However, Chintan survives the accident. For fear of being caught, DIG Uday Raj Singh asks wife Vaidehi to request Chintan to forgive him. Vaidehi requests Chintan to forgive her husband but, in return, take her husband’s assurance that he would let Diya lead her life. Chintan does that and even records the DIG’s confession. Finally, Vaidehi walks out on her husband.
Yogesh Verma has penned a story and screenplay, which hardly make sense. If Vaidehi had decided to leave her husband, why does she ask Chintan to forgive him, and to get his assurance that he would let daughter Diya lead her life? Also, why does Vaidehi walk out on her husband only after she has proof on tape that he had plotted Chintan’s accident? Since there’s nothing legal about the separation of Vaidehi and her husband, why does she want evidence that he was behind Chintan’s accident, especially after he himself has admitted to the crime before Vaidehi herself? Answers to all the aforementioned questions have not been given because they don’t exist! In other words, Yogesh Verma has written a baseless drama. The screenplay sometimes gets confusing because the drama goes into flashback intermittently. Yogesh Verma’s dialogues are ordinary.
Indraneil Sengupta is average as Chintan Kapoor. Gauri Pradhan Tejwani acts well as Vaidehi. Deepraj Rana is alright as DIG Uday Raj Singh. Rituraj Singh lends fair support as Chintan’s friend, Naveen Shergill. Niharika Chouksey makes her presence felt as Diya. Eshita Shah is average as Chintan’s daughter-in-law, Mona. Nikhita Chopra is okay as young Vaidehi. Angad Ohri is ordinary as young Chintan. Ram Awana passes muster as DIG Uday Raj Singh’s driver, Surinder. Dhruv Chugh (as Diya’s boyfriend, Rahul), Karnveer Choudhary (as the deputy chief minister), Manu Malik (as K.K. Dhariwal) and Deepak Adhar (as Vaidehi’s father, Prahlad Singh) lend routine support.
Yogesh Verma’s direction is dull. Avyc Dutta’s music is functional. Lyrics (Aftab Alam, Avyc Dutta and Piali De) are ordinary. Sumit Suryawanshi’s camerawork is nothing to shout about. Arpit Dawani’s production designing is alright. Aloke Dhara’s editing leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, A Winter Tale At Shimla is a flop fare.
Released on 12-5-’23 at Metro Inox (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Pictures Ltd. Publicity & opening: weak. …….Also released all over.
