Goldfish Review: Kalki Koechlin and Deepti Naval Shine as Mother and Daughter in this Tender Drama

Rahul Desai

The Title of The Film Alludes To This Dichotomy of Cruelty

“Goldfish” is something Anamika might use to mock her mother’s fading memory, but it also refers to a childhood incident featuring Sadhana’s coldness and a dead pet. 

Goldfish by Pushan Kripalani

The Film opens with a 30-something Anamika (Kalki Koechlin) storming back into her childhood home. “Let’s just get through this, shall we?” she hisses. The recipient of her curt greeting is Sadhana Tripathi (Deepti Naval), her mother. 

Cycle of Life is Inevitable

Director Pushan Kripalani’s drama is a moving ode to the layered dynamics of caregiving. So much of the commitment is determined by the heritage of duty. That the roles between parent and child are reversed is a given.

Richness in the Details

Kripalani’s film-making is economical and dry – no score; no narrative offshoots; cut-to-black transitions that serve as blank canvas for Anamika’s grief – almost as if it’s daring us to notice the casual decomposition of a mindscape. 

Forgetting Becomes a Metaphor for Forgiving

Most of all, Goldfish finds emotion in the nonchalance of life. It gets that mundanity is often the manifestation of intimacy.

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