Lost in translation: Evaluating modern escapism in Ritesh Batra’s Photograph

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper evaluates the use of the escape motif in Ritesh Batra’s 2019 film Photograph, with respect to its modernist tendencies of fragmented psyche, nostalgia for the past, and aesthetics. It studies the sense of increasing isolation within the protagonists of the story, Miloni and Rafi, and relates the same in the sociological context of the urban hub of Mumbai city. The identities of the characters are further analysed with respect to their socio-economic privilege in the society and the paper argues that the social conditioning of, and expectations from, the characters play an instrumental role in creating two different approaches to their aforementioned need for escapism. The longing for human connection, as represented in the setting and use of the meta-narrative technique in turning to old Bollywood films and music, is one of the prominent approaches seen within the characters and the film in coping with the modern escapism from their private and public selves.