Ship of Theseus Review

Anand Gandhi,the man who was previously associated with the world of television soaps,has broken free from the hackneyed profile to venture into the world of film-making with a very bold concept. Gandhi titles his film 'The Ship of Theseus' and brilliantly weaves this philosophical paradox in the lives and tumult of the psyche of his three characters. Three completely different,self-sustaining stories are presented sequentially,only to weave them together in the end to manifest the debate the paradox has been posing for years- Does a ship, whose every part has been replaced piece by piece, remain the same ship in the end?. I wouldn't term the film entertaining but it can certainly be called enriching once you watch it with patience and try to absorb the storytelling and the ideas presented through it.

The first story acquaints us with Aliya(Aida El-Kashef) a blind photographer who works her senses and intuition to capture images with the help of her camera which is provided with a voice-guidance. She undergoes cornea transplant and once her vision is restored,she faces difficulty to carry on with her work. Real vision become useless when it impedes inner vision,which once guided her skill.The second story introduces us to a brilliant character,an educator-philosopher, Maitreya(Neeraj Kabi) who is a staunch animal-activist whose world of beliefs come crashing down when that he finds out the medication of his ailment is manufactured after testing in animals. A man with firm beliefs and unshakeable goals falls prey to extreme suffering and changes his path. Naveen(Sohum Shah) an indifferent man makes a arduous,moving journey to a distant land to provide justice to another man whom he meets through his organ-reception process. Hence the stories challenge the conceptions of identity,personality,convictions and provokes us to constantly question the actions of these characters,while trying to justify the paradox. With brilliant acting and scripting,the movie is a gem worth a million watches.To quote veteran critic Rajeev Masand,"It stimulates the one organ that popular Hindi cinema consistently ignores - the brain!"