Title: Trial Period
Director: Aleya Sen
Cast: Genelia Deshmukh, Manav Kaul, Shakti Kapoor, Gajraj Rao, Sheeba Chadha, and others
Streaming on: JioCinema
Rating: 3 stars
Filmmakers, who in the past had worked in the advertising industry, have one thing in common — their one-liners are phenomenal but they face hiccups while creating a project around it. Aleya Sen, who marked her directorial debut in Dil Juunglee (2018) brings a heartfelt story of a single mother and her son, who is looking for a temporary father.
Ana (Genelia Deshmukh), an independent Bengali girl, works as an architect and lives a routine life with her son Romi. Her neighbour Timmy uncle (Shakti Kapoor) and his wife Sheeba are Romi’s favourite pastime. Timmy, who is an ardent fan of telly shopping tricks Romi and gets Prajapati Dwivedi aka PD (Manav Kaul) as his father on rent for a trial period of one month. What happens next? Will Romi accept PD as his father or his exit is the final consequence?
Aleya narrates a rib-tickling story with so much warmth and emotional energy, but the film leads to slight boredom amidst light-hearted moments here and there. Since the film strictly deals with the single core plot for 131 minutes, Trial Period fluctuates from good to bad too often. Aleya tries too hard to hold on and definitely does a far better job than her first film.
Her sincerity and evolution as a filmmaker are evident throughout the film, but Trial Period is undoubtedly an easy breezy affair infused with the predictable chemistry between the protagonists that develops around the obvious situations.
Genelia is pleasant, charming and delightful on-screen. She lights up the canvas with her presence. Shakti Kapoor and Sheeba Chadha do justice to their parts. The kid, who played Romi, is adorable. Gajraj Rao has a lesser screen time and does the expected job well.
Manav Kaul is a firecracker of a performer. His pauses, breakdowns, comic timing, angst and everything one can think of are to the T. He has portrayed a small-town guy, who is rich in his family values but bitten by love, very well. By the end of the film, you will fall in love with PD.
Trial Period is certainly not an avoidable film and if you are up for a fun watch over this weekend, this one’s for you.
