MY BIRTHDAY SONG
India, 2018, 95 minutes, Colour.
Sanjay Suri, Nora Fatehi, Zenia Starr, Ayaz Khan.
Directed by Samir Soni.
In the Netflix catalogue, this film comes under the caption of Mystery. Yes, there are deaths, but it is not that kind of mystery. (And one mystery is having an Indian film that runs around 90 minutes!).
The film opens with a man going to a therapist, telling his story, that he has not been able to sleep for a year, he then proceeds with his story.
At first, the story is fairly straightforward, the man and his business, his friends, agency and employment, the prospect of his 40th birthday party, his wife organising but away with the children, caring for her mother. At the party, he notices a young woman and is attracted to her, she responds rather seductively, dancing, discussing with him, an actress living in Canada, moving from India, and, finally, the seduction. But, in a moment of panic, the man pushes the young woman and she hit her head, dying.
The man goes to sleep, wakes up, no dead body, Everything clean. His assistant then wishes him happy birthday. There are some recurring events – and anticipation of events that happened on his previous experience, talking with his friend, going to see the young woman, asking her not to come to his party, and his reaction to her, realising that she had been an aspiring actress with him and they had a one night stand, and again her hitting her head and dying. The man spends the rest of the day contacting his wife, contacting his friend, suspicious of his wife having an affair with his friend, confronting her, her explaining that she was organising a birthday trip to Bali – which had been revealed in the previous birthday party.
He revisits the room at the hotel, nobody knows anything about the young woman, he gets into the room and find it all clean and tidy.
While driving, he is pulled up by the police, aggressively defending himself but let go. Then, out in the country, his car breaks down, he being bewildered what to do when a mysterious stranger arrives with a toolkit and fixes the car and make statements about him and his birthday. Finally, his tires/, he goes to get them repaired and, again, he receives birthday greetings.
And so, once again going home, the party again…
There are mysterious flashbacks to the man’s childhood, his dominating father, violence, his sister and her being taken by her mother in the separation – and the film giving indication that the young actress in Canada may be his sister.
Which means that this is a psychological thriller – and a variation on Groundhog Day. It draws on the Indian music tradition by having a song sung throughout the film, at key moments, attention moments, with the lyrics dramatising and explaining what is going on.
A curiosity item for audiences not familiar with films from India.
