‘I Want To Talk’ review: A down-tempo film about surviving cancer

In his new movie, Shoojit Sircar revisits ideas that he previously explored in Piku and October. I Want to Talk has a fractious father-daughter pair as well as an examination of the effects of long-standing illnesses on relationships.

Marketing executive Arjun (Abhishek Bachchan) refuses to let a cancer diagnosis defeat his spirit. Ritesh Shah’s screenplay, adapted from Arjun Sen’s memoir Raising a Father, examines Arjun’s efforts to endure repeated surgeries alongside maintaining a bond with his daughter Reya.

Reya, played by Pearle Dey and Ahilya Bamroo at different ages, has her own issues. As a child, she sees her father with a bandaged neck and a bruised manner. As an older woman, Reya must set aside her self-centredness to understand what her father is going through.

I Want to Talk is in both English and Hindi, in keeping with its California setting. The distance from Indian community networks emphasises Arjun’s loneliness.

The time he spends with Reya is often fraught. Arjun’s social circle comes to comprise the people he meets during his treatment. These include Johnny Lever, in a good-natured cameo as a medical attendant.Read more