Rahul Desai
A sassy crime-branch officer, Bela (Nimrat Kaur), investigates the mysterious disappearance of a young physics teacher, Sajini Shinde (Radhika Madan).
Despite the implication in the title, the “viral video” in question does not involve sex. It’s a clip of Sajini getting drunk and enjoying herself at a bar during an overseas work trip.
The setting makes sense. Pune is a city in constant ideological flux; it exists at the intersection of old and new, tradition and modernity, Marathi and Hindi, boomers and millennials, patriarchy and wokeness, PG accommodations and students.
Perceptive writing aside, the rhythm and tone of Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video are a bit scattershot. the film is paranoid about being too smart for its own good.
but it also enters a territory that swings between the success of an idea and the failure of an aesthetic. It gives itself a chance to let a statement emerge rather than directly make it.