'Kaasav': A beautiful film about tender relationships, mental health and, of course turtles

Finding Kaasav is like finding a small treasure that needs preservation. In fact, protecting the endangered is an ongoing theme in Kaasav. On the one hand, it addresses the issue of turtles being allowed to nest in peace on the beach before plodding back into the water. On the other hand, it also tries to tell us how important it is for us as a society to buffer and protect the mentally distressed.

The direct attempt at bringing the two themes of eco-preservation together gives the film a distinctly docu-feel. Though the end-product is none the poorer for it. The bare stripped-down minimalist narration focuses largely on the indescribably tender relationship that grows between a compassionate divorcee Janaki (Iravati Harshe) and a suicidal depressive young man whom she finds on the street and provides a home.

Straightaway, it would be in the fitness of things to state that young Alok Rajwade who plays Maanav in this elegiac if a tad didactic exposition on solitude, is the find of the moment. Rajwade’s eyes convey a haunted dissociation with the world around him. He is so into his character that I fear Rajwade no longer exists.

“Why do I need to live ? What is the purpose?” Maanav asks Janaki who has no answers to provide. She is struggling with her own inner turmoil trying to come to terms with her intermittent panic attacks.

I wish writer Sumitra Bhave had explored the central relationship into a deeper place. Her two actors seem equipped for it. Sadly, the growing relationship between the two emotional derelicts doesn’t go anywhere beyond a surface-level empathy. I expected Janaki and Maanav to get to know each other far more closely than the tentative screenplay allows.

The jumpy ending with Janaki suddenly taking off for the US seems a bit of a cop-out, though one that causes no visible damage to the fragile , tranquil beautiful film. Kaasav is shot with fetching austerity and a emphatic intensity on a beach resort where turtles move as stealthily as the beating of the human heart.

Everyone needs healing: the characters in Kasaav as much as those fanning fuelling and funding the film about healing and nurturing, with a stand-out by Alok Rajwade.