Once Again (2018 film)
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Once Again
| image =
| caption = Theaterical Release Poster
| director = Kanwal Sethi
| producer = Holm Taddiken
Ajay Rai
Sanjay Gulati
Alan McAlex
Arno Krimmer
Leis Bagdach
| writer = Kanwal Sethi
| starring = Shefali Shah
Neeraj Kabi
Rasika Dugal
Bidita Bag
Priyanshu Painyuli
| music = Talvin Singh
Additional Music : Georg Siebert
| cinematography = Eeshit Narain
| editing = Søren B. Ebbe
Anja Siemens
Andreas Wodraschke
| studio = Neufilm
JAR Pictures
Crawling Angel Films
Ascending Films
| distributor = Netflix
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2018|09|1|}}
| runtime = 101 minutes
| language = Hindi
| country = India
Germany
Austria
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Once Again is a 2018 Indian romantic drama film written and directed by Kanwal Sethi.{{cite web|url=https://www.scoopwhoop.com/once-again-trailer-shefali-shah-neeraj-kabi/|title=This Brilliant Trailer Starring Shefali Shah & Neeraj Kabi Is Giving Us Major "The Lunchbox" Feels|last=Magan|first=Srishti|website=ScoopWhoop|date=28 August 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}} Starring Shefali Shah and Neeraj Kabi, the film follows two middle-aged people, one a famous actor, another a restaurateur, falling in love with each other.{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/the-semantics-of-once-again/article25137661.ece|title=The semantics of Once Again|last=Desai|first=Rahul|work=The Hindu|date=5 October 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://scroll.in/reel/893239/im-an-incurable-romantic-shefali-shah-on-tackling-love-at-all-ages-in-once-again|title='I'm an incurable romantic': Shefali Shah on tackling love at all ages in 'Once Again'|last=Pal|first=Chandrima|website=Scroll.in|date=6 September 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}} Rasika Dugal, Bidita Bag and Priyanshu Painyuli appear in supporting roles.{{cite web|url=https://www.mensxp.com/entertainment/bollywood/47029-shefali-shah-neeraj-kabi-rsquo-s-once-again-trailer-is-proof-food-always-brings-people-closer.html|title=Shefali Shah & Neeraj Kabi's "Once Again" Trailer Is Proof Food Always Brings People Closer|last=Chakraborty|first=Rimi|website=MensXP.com|date=29 August 2019|accessdate=22 May 2019}}
The film was originally written in German since Sethi is Indian-German; Later it was translated in English and Hindi.{{cite news|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/the-work-that-i-want-to-do-doesn-t-come-every-day-and-i-have-come-to-terms-with-it-shefali-shah/story-8JaDn48xOKxPDLJiJniNQL.html|title=The work that I want to do doesn't come every day and I have come to terms with it: Shefali Shah|last=Chakraborty|first=Juhi|work=Hindustan Times|date=31 August 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}} It won the best project award in Work-in-Progress Lab at the Film Bazaar in Goa and later also other awards.{{cite news|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/2018/aug/28/neeraj-kabi-shefali-shah-explore-old-world-romance-in-kanwal-sethis-once-again-1864003.html|title=Neeraj Kabi, Shefali Shah explore old-world romance in Kanwal Sethi's 'Once Again'|work=The New Indian Express|date=28 August 2018|access-date=22 May 2019}} Shah also sang a song for the film.{{cite news|url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/shefali-shah-croons-jagjit-singhs-nazm-for-her-film-once-again/19756174|title=Shefali Shah croons Jagjit Singh's nazm for her film Once Again|last=Dedhia|first=Sonil|work=Mid Day|date=1 September 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}} Once Again was released on Netflix on 1 September 2018 and also had a limited theatrical release in metro cities on 8 December.{{cite web|url=https://www.thehansindia.com/amp/posts/index/Cinema/2018-12-07/Shefali-Shah-says-Once-Again/453658|title=Shefali Shah says 'Once Again'|website=The Hands India|date=7 December 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://arsenalfilm.de/once-again/index.htm|title=Arsenal Filmverleih - Jetzt im Kino|website=arsenalfilm.de|access-date=2019-06-09}} It has been also released in Germany by Arsenalfilm and France with great reviews from the critics.{{Cite web|url=https://arsenalfilm.de/once-again/index.htm|title=Arsenal Filmverleih - Jetzt im Kino|website=arsenalfilm.de|access-date=2019-06-09}}
Plot
Amar is an ageing film star. A famous and wealthy man, he lives alone in Mumbai, a city of 15 million souls, the city of dreams. Tara, a widow, runs a small restaurant with the help of her son, who delivers Amar's meals. Tara has never seen Amar - except on the big screen. What began by pure chance a year ago has now turned into a ritual: for hours on end they talk to each other on the phone. Until one day, when Amar sets out to meet Tara in the flesh.
Cast
- Shefali Shah as Tara Shetty
- Neeraj Kabi as Amar Kumar
- Rasika Dugal as Sapna, Amar's daughter
- Bidita Bag as Meera, Tara's daughter
- Priyanshu Painyuli as Dev, Tara's son
- Mridanjali Rawai as Kiran, Dev's fiancee
- Suparna Marwah as Kiran's mother
- Bhagwan Tiwari as Ashok, Amar's driver
- Anushka Sawhney as an actress
- Prabhat Raghunandan as a director
- Karim Hajee as a producer
- Suchitra Tyagi as a reporter
- Amit Chakrabarty as the bank manager
- Narender Jatliy as a cook
- Sameer Jani as restaurant server
- Sanjay Bhatia as restaurant client
- Zarin Variava as restaurant client
- Brijesh Karanwal
- Navtej Johar as a dancer (cameo)
- Anil Panchal as a dancer
- Chandra Shekhar as a street artist
- Suruchi Sharma as a street artist
Reception
The film was loved by the critics as well as by the audience and was for many weeks on the top of popular list of Netflix. Famous film critic Ajay Brahmbhatt tweeted immediately after watching the film : "From trailer I was guessing Once again must be lyrical film." After watching I will say its more than lyrical. It's a wonderful love story Bhawana Somaaya a Film critic wrote "saw a sensitive film Once Again must watch for all who are not so young and in love super performances from the lead." Sabash K. Jha wrote "Just finishes watching Once Again is like well cooked dish it acquires flavourful composure in a slow burn enriching fulfilling. Shefali and Neeraj are magnificent".{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/hashtag/onceagaintrailer|title=#onceagaintrailer hashtag on Twitter|website=twitter.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-09}}
Sankhayan Ghosh from Filmcompanion said that Director Kanwal Sethi has a keen eye for detail. While The Lunchbox shows us how they fall in love, how they carry out their relationship over letters slipped into the dabba, and ends with the first time they decide to meet, when Once Again begins, Amar and Tara have already found each other .{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmcompanion.in/once-again-bollywood-movie-review-netflix/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927004752/https://www.filmcompanion.in/once-again-bollywood-movie-review-netflix/|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 September 2018|title=Once Again has some nice moments, but they are too few|date=2018-09-06|website=Film Companion|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-08}}
Rahul Desai from The Hindu said: Two hearts in the same space, cornered into a huddle by the vacuum facing them. Much of the quiet, stream-of-consciousness film explores their hesitance to recognise these signs of their spatial dynamics (The Hindu){{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/the-semantics-of-once-again/article25137661.ece|title=The semantics of Once Again|last=Desai|first=Rahul|date=2018-10-05|work=The Hindu|access-date=2019-06-09|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}} Trisha Gupta writes in India Today; Once Again artfully depicts a middle aged couple drifting into love. Unlike the plotted safety of Ritesh Batra's film Lunchbox though, Tara and Amar meet several times, letting the charmed flame of their phone banter flicker into unscripted disappointment.{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/24-09-2018|title=India Today Magazine Issue - Dated Sep 24, 2018|website=www.indiatoday.in|date=13 September 2018 |access-date=2019-06-08}} Dipti Kharude of The Quint reviewed: "The way the camera tenderly caresses Shefali in the film, the subtlest shifts in her character's emotions become discernible."{{cite web|url=https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/hot-on-web/netflix-once-again-review|title=Review: Netflix's "Once Again" Is a Love Letter to Shefali Shah|last=Kharude|first=Dipti|website=The Quint|date=14 September 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}}
Ipshita Mitra of The Wire observed that the film "shows the coming together of two disparate yet similar stories of separation and despair woven by two broken middle-aged people like patchwork on the fabric of survival".{{cite news|url=https://thewire.in/film/once-again-is-about-discovering-and-living-life-in-the-cinderella-hour|title='Once Again' is About Discovering and Living Life in the Cinderella Hour|last=Mitra|first=Ipshita|website=The Wire|date=31 March 2019|accessdate=22 May 2019}} JA Ganesh Nadar of Rediff.com wrote: "One needs a fair amount of patience to watch Once Again as it takes you through the complexities of love in the evening of the couple's lives."{{cite web|url=https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-a-film-worth-watching-once-again/20180831.htm|title=Review: A film worth watching Once Again|last=Nadar|first=A Ganesh|date=31 August 2018|website=Rediff.com|accessdate=22 May 2019}} Johnson Thomas of The Free Press Journal called it "a sensitively handled, evocatively performed adult love story that steals its romantic conceit from Lunchbox".{{cite news|url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/movie-reviews/once-again-movie-review-cast-director/1351696|title=Once Again movie: Review, Cast, Director|work=The Free Press Journal|date=7 September 2018|accessdate=22 May 2019}}
References
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