Imtiaz Ali’s Short Film The Other Way Review: Mashup Of Every Good Thing From His Previous Films

Imtiaz Ali is someone who has explored every possible shade of love through his films. The only sad thing is he, is the Aamir Khan of directors – has helmed just 7 movies in 13 years. Silver lining is he’s back with a short film – The Other Way and it’s a mashup of every good thing from his every film.

Moulding the narration of the film around the concept of time, the screenplay will remind you of Ali’s Love Aaj Kal. A bride, a photographer and love! Ali proves why you don’t need 2+ hours to serve the purpose of a good story.

The Other Way starts with a wedding in which the bride comes late followed by the photographer who asks her to smile. The bride’s smile indicates how this is not a simple love story.

Ali takes the narration to another level as he decides to tell the story in backward with The Other Way. Going through a montage of various photographs we get a hint of what could have happened with the bride.

Revealing every aspect of the story, Imtiaz Ali by the end proves yet again why he is known as the master storyteller.

Piyush Kanojia’s music plays the important role in this entire short film, from the moment the couple have a conversation in a car to the last meet on terrace.

The leading stars in Pavel Gulati and Shreya Chaudhry pack perfect emotions required by the actors of an Imtiaz Ali film.

5 minutes into the film and we get a Rumi-fied message from it – “What’s the fear? the real major fear.” This angle reminds us of Rockstar when Heer was getting married but had her heart with Jordan.

Though 15 minutes are not enough to establish the backdrop of the characters, Ali tries his best to make us fall for them.

Ending the movie with a starting point is what Ali can do, as he leaves us on the sweet note of reminding Jai & Meera from Love Aaj Kal.

Shreya Chaudhry who made her debut with Dear Maya is the best thing about these 15 minutes. She has lived up to the expectations of what we usually keep from an Imtiaz Ali’s character.

This is an unusual review, not following the usual format, I go with 4/5 for this Imtiaz Ali short film – The Other Way. A must watch for all Imtiaz Ali fans and those who aspire to make short films.