7 Days
Roshan Sethi’s “7 Days” is not only a low key screwball comedy, but it also provides evidence that characters are not required to like each other much for their actors to create great on camera chemistry. For example, in the movie Ravi (Karan Soni), an overwrought man and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan), a disgusted woman were introduced as Indian American millennials in the world of arranged marriages who found themselves stuck together when a shelter in place took effect during their socially awkward first date.
First off, Ravi had already taken her to a reservoir with no water and dry conversation. Now he can’t leave her cluttered apartment place. He ended up crashing at her house and learning that she doesn’t fit in his profile of someone against tradition; Rita eats meat, drinks beer, and has casually placed her sex toy on top of the bathroom sink. At least now he knows she’ll never be his wife. But now they won’t even let him out of there except by helicopter or some such thing. It is an ingenious idea behind this film which brings forth some beautiful farce.
In a two hander like this it’s fantastic when both actors are so much fun to watch alone or when acting together. In the role, Viswanathan has got great comic energy because she’s laid back but makes all kinds of keen witticisms while talking to the more intense Ravi. When Ravi tries to sound authoritative in her house Rita shuts him down fast enough; the same happens when he attempts to contextualize why he wants marriage with calling it “a good cuddle.” She says that you don’t need to be married for someone to hug you,” making us love him more with every dose of reality thrown our way.
Furthermore, the movie serves as an excellent vehicle for Soni who co-wrote it alongside Sethi. He manages to be funny, mild, soft-spoken and adorable throughout the film while also joking about his character’s neuroticism or traditionalism, thereby showing that people can be open to change and alternative opinions. His character arc is partly reflected by doing things her way he wears her sweatpants and lazy shirts during his entire visit which is a funny metaphor.
The movie maintains its charm for 85 minutes through an overall sweetness of “7 Days”, with its versatile directorial hand in the discussions between these two characters. (Some sunlight in Rita’s apartment all day long must be stated too.)
Also there’s something about this ambling story which always makes you wonder how it would get past its next obstacle. For instance, at first they are too opposite to like each other, so will the script get us there if it wants to? What happens when Ravi has other virtual dates while he is staying with Rita? And although a few more surprising conflicts occur, still the story remains true to just having two leads on screen. It’s impressive given that similar minimal productions usually run out of ideas very soon.
The movie is surrounded by Zoom testimonials from actual married Indian couples who met through arranged marriages and have some sweet things to share about their partners and how they got together. The film also honestly tries to advocate for direct ways of getting to know others just as Ravi does here. I wanted more power from this advocacy, but it shows with its documentary sections that it may work and its story’s focus on what can work.
Not for nothing, “7 Days” joins the limited ranks of Good Covid Era Cinema, and applies certain anxieties about the period of shelter in-place creatively, without manipulation. This is no small achievement; neither is making two actors play around a question that always makes a good story when left unanswered enough: Will they or won’t they?
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