A still from the movie.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Plants become her therapy. Each time her husband strays, she retreats into the garden. When he lusts after women she thinks are more beautiful than her, she seeks solace in the backyard, hugging a tree or two.
Radhika Apte embodies the meek, subservient Smita in this story-within-a-story, where characters are neither shackled by morality nor judged for their choices. Told through a distinctly female gaze, it frames Apte as the wronged woman in parallel tales of infidelity.
Smita is a gold medallist in botany, but her certificates gather dust in the attic while her days dissolve into the kitchen, catering to her husband's (Anshumaan Pushkar) every trivial taste. A regular at casinos and drowning in debt, he wants her to sell her ancestral property to bail him out.
Already fragile in confidence, Smita spirals further into self-doubt when her cousin (Sauraseni Maitra) moves in after landing a job in their village. The husband soon tumbles into bed with the younger "other woman", who, in turn, has the hots for the local cop (Divyenndu).
Apte now spends more time with her plants. And her gardener-cum-guardian (Sharat Saxena) dispenses pep flora talks on how resilience can be learned from roots and shoots.
Anurag Kashyap makes an early appearance as an unconventional casino owner, adding another layer of intrigue.
A sudden double murder jolts the pace of this slow burner, which marks the directorial debut of actor Tisa Chopra.
It's not a whodunnit, but a study in emotional erosion and survival instincts. And Radhika Apte glows with quiet intensity in this small-town tale of love and betrayal.