Bangalore-based product-designer-turned-comedian Nirmal Pillai made a name for himself making reels about contemporary South Indian pop culture during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Now, five years later, he's trying his hand at film-making proper. 'Bata Boy and Crocs Girl', a 40-minute short film about modern love set in Bangalore — "the New York of South India" — is his first project as a director.
The film unspools along two timelines: in one, we see Gokul and Ishita, the eponymous "Bata Boy" and "Crocs Girl" talking about their situationship on a podcast; and in the other, we see that situationship unfold through flashbacks.
The look, feel, and vibe of these two timelines are decidedly different. The podcast parts are shot in a well-lit studio, giving the footage a flatter look, like most video podcasts on social media, while the flashbacks are shot in warmer, moodier, teal and orange light that's colour-graded to give the footage a more 'cinematic' vibe.
It's clever film-making — alluding to the dichotomy between the romanticised nature of memory and the dullness of reality. It's quite obvious, and the teal-and-orange colour-grading is maybe a tad overdone these days, but cinematographers Gowtham Magesh and Prakhan Pachpor and colourist Yash Soni really make it work here. It elevates the production value of the film and makes you wonder why studio films with much bigger budgets don't look this good anymore.
Of course, the film is not without its flaws. The story is a little thin for my liking, and it's more vibe-based than plot heavy. The characters are sweet and relatable, but despite the mumblecore dialogue which tries to capture the awkwardness of the early stages of courtship and the heady high of a new romance, it wears out its welcome by the time you reach the half-way mark of the film.
What works, however, is a particular scene shot at the famous Blossoms Book House on Church Street. I'm not going to spoil what happens here, but it's such a beautifully-shot sequence — every single frame feels like a love note to Blossoms, a quintessential Bangalore establishment. It's scenes like these that give us a glimpse at Pillai's potential as a film-maker and makes you want to see more long-form content like this from him.
While 'Bata Boy and Crocs Girl' ticks all the boxes of what a film about the complex and confusing experience of a contemporary relationship should be, it falls a short of some of the depth the subject matter demands. There's a lot to like here, but perhaps not as much to love.
Nirmal and Kripali do their best as the aimless twenty-something protagonists navigating love and life in a new city, and Nirmal's long-term collaborators Abhishek Kumar and Manoj Mani do well in supporting roles. The score by Harshan Radhakrishnan — also known as Honeymoon Henny from the F16s — also works really well.
An extremely relatable look at contemporary dating and modern love in India which reminded me of modern classic Hollywood rom-coms like Marc Webb's '500 Days Of Summer' — you'll know why when you watch it.
Watch the official trailer for 'Bata Boy and Crocs Girl' here:
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