Review : The Tenant : Heart warming friendship tale between an adolescent and a young lady!

There has a been quite a few movies depicting an adolescent and grown up getting entangled in a relationship. #Malena (2000) is an Italian movie which had similar subject and so is the subject of #Hinglish (Hindi-English) movie, #TheTenant. Though most of the other movies indulged in erotic scenes, The Tenant doesn’t tread that path and it’s commendable. It talks about a friendships despite age differences. The story revolves around a modern young lady who rents a flat in a housing society where males keeps ogling at her while females detest her very being. A strong bond between a teenager and the lady forms the major part of the story.

Meera (Shamita Shetty), a rich model from SoBo, moves to a housing society full of middle class families in the suburbs. This cigarette smoking lady wearing skimpy dresses is talk of the society. Men fantasise about her while ladies despise her very presence. A young teenage schoolboy Bharat (Rudraksh Jaiswal) fancies her and strikes friendship with her. After initial hesitance she likes his innocence and sincerity and both become friends. Sameera has a dubious past for which her relations with her boy friend are strained. She is the topic of gossip in the society and due to ‘sour grapes’ syndromes the managing committee want her out of the society. What happens after and in between forms the crux of the narration.

Director Sushrut Jain has written the story too but it has a very thin plot. Though screenplay has quite a few happenings the main thrust is on Meera-Bharat relationship. Importantly the director has not used erotic scenes between the two though the teenager is infatuated by the young beautiful lady. The first half is a bit slow though the film picks up in the latter half. There are loose ends in the screenplay which could have avoided. The production values should have been better. The music is very good and one gets to listen relatively unheard blues gems including James Carr’s ‘Lovable Girl’ and Lee Dorset’s ‘Hello Mama’. Shamita Shetty has given a standout performance. She looks beautiful and moves with grave all the time. She has aced the the variety of moods the character demands. Young actor Rudraksh Jaiswal too has given a superlative performance. Swanand Kirkire, Sheeba Chadha, Manish Anand, Atul Srivastava, Chittaranjan Tripathy and others lend good support.

The Tenant is a heart warming friendship tale between an adolescent and a young lady without getting involved physically.

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