Locations in Europe: London and Paris
Storyline
Director/Producer: Director: Anu Menon; Producer: Goldie Behl and Shrishti Arya
Line Producer/Executive Producer/ Associate Producer: Production Executive: Vivek B. Agrawal; Line Producer: Nancy Nisa Beso Line Producer Paris: Jim Damour
Star(s): Ali Zafar and Aditi Rao Hydari
Songs/Dance/Action: The songs filmed in London and Paris were composed, written and performed by Ali Zafar. This also shows the influence of Indie music on Bollywood films.
Indian/ International Crew: Indian and International
Language: Hindi
Film Location Analysis
By Shikha Jhingan
The London sequence begins at the airport, where Nikhil and Lalitha start talking to each other and enjoy a light banter. According to the end credits, this sequence was shot at Birmingham International Airport. The London excursion begins with the two talking on the escalator at Canary Wharf Station, Bank Street. As they cruise down, Lalitha has a wide-eyed look. We cut to a shot of the London Eye from Lalitha’s point of view, who expresses her delight at being in central London on a sunny day. A montage sequence takes us on an excursion to various locations of Central London, emphasising its breezy pace amidst crowds, which includes the Millennium Bridge, Canary Wharf Station, an amusement park, Christ Church, Hyde Park, etc.
Sitting against the railing with a view of the river, Lalitha takes out her book on London and starts telling him about its history. Nikhil teases her by referring to her as ‘Lalithapaedia,’ who seems to be in an autodidact mode. Suddenly, it begins to rain, and Lalitha wants to rush for cover, but Nikhil asks her to sit down and enjoy the moment. The camera becomes distant as we see the two in a contemplative state, getting drenched in each other’s company. They resume their walk and reach St. Stephen's Church, where Nikhil starts playing the piano. A light romantic song written, composed, and sung by Ali Zafar follows. Lalitha lets her hair down and starts jiving to the beat of the song. Their next stop is the Waterside Café in Little Venice, where Nikhil asks her to taste some red wine in style. A delightful sequence shows the two of them lazily lying in a park, enjoying a siesta. The vista of the city in warm tones is framed by their feet in the foreground. Next, we see a white couple kissing each other. As we cut back to Nikhil and Lalitha, the voices of a couple arguing in French fades up on the sound track. Nikhil sits up to look at the couple, which is followed by a cutaway of the couple arguing. Nikhil starts imagining what they could be arguing about, speculating that the man is a capitalist and the woman a communist. Lalitha chuckles and says no; they are discussing sex positions. Nikhil is taken aback. Lalitha starts miming their dialogues in a role play, and Nikhil starts enjoying this performative act. He asks if she watches pornographic films. Lalitha informs him that she has studied French in school and college. Nikhil is impressed by Lalitha’s bold evocation of sexual intimacy through citation. Lalitha tells him that she was merely translating the conversation.
The couple moves to The Anchor, a bar located on 34 Park Street, and orders some beer. Nudged by some women, Nikhil starts dancing to a loud Punjabi bhangra song in typical Bollywood style, with Caucasian women jiving to the beat. As they come out, the day has turned into an evening. The couple enjoys an intimate moment, though Lalitha stops Nikhil from kissing her. They share their sense of the future with each other and walk towards a bench overlooking the river Thames. The pace of the film slows down. As opposed to the fast paced cutting at the beginning of the London sequence, we can now see their comfort in each other’s presence and exchange of glances. Visuals showing a warm glow on the Big Ben and the light’s reflection on the Thames add to the mood of intimacy. When the camera moves behind the couple, we see Lalitha snuggling up to him, blabbering about unromantic things. The camera cuts to a side shot, giving us a peek at Nikhil’s reaction. He sighs and expresses his aroused desire to the camera. But Lalitha is unaware of this. After an argument in which Nikhil accuses her of being a tease, the couple is seen spending the night together on the bench in a light embrace, with the Palace of Westminster’s warm light framing the contours of their bodies. In the cab to drop Lalitha off at the airport, Nikhil tells her that he has fallen in love with her. The camera frames the two in the backseat with views of the city’s bridges and architectural vistas passing by. Finally, it is at the airport that the couple kiss each other and decide to meet after six months.
In Paris, the film becomes more intense with the evocation of a dark city. After a quick montage of the city’s heritage sights at night, the camera shows Nikhil in his hotel room. He receives a call from his friend, after which we see him in a lingerie shop, where he gets information about Lalitha’s whereabouts. Next, we are invited to see Lalitha’s photographs along with Nikhil, setting the tone for her enigmatic persona. Her transformation as a sexually awakened woman is placed through her embodied engagement with the city of Paris, where women seem to be free but also melancholic. The sequences in Paris were shot with warm, oversaturated colours as part of the mis-en-scene in the interiors, like in the lingerie shop where Nikhil meets his friend and the bar where he runs into Lalitha. Her grungy look with makeup and short hair, combined with visuals of her walking in the city, also evoke French cinema’s fascination with the Parisian woman. Nikhil spots Lalitha arguing about feminism with a group of friends. On seeing Nikhil, she walks out angrily in an inebriated state. We are at Pont Alexander III. Nikhil follows her and tries to apologise for not showing up in New York as promised. Lalitha gets sick, and we see them going into Hotel Regina. The next morning, they have breakfast together, seemingly on a terrace of the hotel, with the Eiffel Tower appearing prominently in the background.
In the next sequence, Lalitha takes Nikhil to ‘Sorbonne University,’ where she is a doctoral candidate, but it was filmed at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. Finally, the two enter Lalitha’s room at the university, where the colour red dominates the frame. They step out again to walk through the city with light sexual banter that leads us to the mood of the song. The background song ‘Thehree Si Zindagi’ shows the couple against the ‘I Love You Wall,’ in Jehan Rictus Square. The song shows the two enjoying their day together in the Montmarte area, which has historically been associated with artists, art lovers, and a bohemian lifestyle. We see the couple riding on the carousel at Montmarte and Notre-Dame, with a view from Quai de la Tournelle.
Back in Nikhil’s hotel room, the couple finally makes love. Lalitha asks him to show her his film, which Nikhil describes as an experimental work that draws from Tarkovsky’s style. After seeing the female actor in the film, Lalitha has a breakdown. She starts packing her stuff and wants to leave. Nikhil demands to know why she is behaving so strangely. The Paris sequence ends with Lalitha informing him about her visit to London, where she found him with another woman.
Additional Information and Links
London Paris New York | Hindi Movie News - Times of India (indiatimes.com)
According to a web archive, the crew while shooting in London in 2011 were affected by the London riots. The production team had to shift their location to a town 1 hour away from London to complete the London schedule.
The director Anu Menon, she was inspired by Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight while conceiving the project.
