A photograph captures a split second. A series of photographs becomes a motion picture and tells a story.
The story that director-writer Ritesh Batra tells in "Photograph" is of a street photographer, Rafi (Nawazuyddin Siddique) in Mumbai, India's most populous city. He hawks his service to anyone who'll pay 50 rupees. One day he approaches a young woman (a mousy Sanya Malhotra) and offers her a cut-rate price. He snaps her and produces her portrait from his portable printer, but she's called away before he can complete the transaction.
On the way to his flat, which he shares with three or four other bachelors, he hears that his grandmother is not taking her medications because he hasn't found a girl to marry. So he sends his grandmother, Dadi, a copy of the woman's photo, claiming that she is his girlfriend. Dadi, who lives in a village several hundred miles away, notifies Rafi that she is on the way to check things out.
How can Rafi find the girl in a city of 20 million? Fortunately a photo resolves the problem. A billboard advertising an accounting school shows the young women, Miloni, as its top student. By persistently taking a bus that picks up people near the school, Rafi meets Miloni and persuades her to pretend to be his girlfriend as long as Dadi is in town. For various reasons, including that she can no longer abide her parents making decisions for her (even telling her what her preferred color is), Miloni agrees.
Dadi (a scene-stealing Farrukh Jaffar) arrives and starts asking questions about Miloni, whom she knows as Noorie, the name Rafi made up for his "girlfriend." Rafi and Miloni devise their backstory, and Dadi seems satisfied--or is she? Meanwhile, Miloni's parents have other plans for her.
"Photograph" takes the viewer all over Mumbai--from its squalor to its middle-class neighborhoods, which is where Miloni resides. Her family can afford to send her to the United States with a potential bridegroom who has difficulty controlling his weight. Rafi, on the other hand, is struggling to pay off the debts of his late father.
The film could use some judicious editing. A taxi scene with Rafi arguing with the driver seems out of place. And it takes awhile before you can tell that Rafi and Miloni actually have more than just a tentative connection.
"Photograph" has an unexpected ending. Yet it appropriately bookends its opening. Remember this is a motion picture, not just a photograph.
