"Once Again" - A Love Story That Redefines Age and Societal Norms

Where should I even start to convince you all that this is an underrated film, with beauty lying in every aspect of it? When I was in college and subscribed to Netflix for the first time, this movie was my first watch on the platform, and I've been in love with such slow-paced movies ever since. If you are someone who loved "The Lunchbox" – something simple, poetic, and deep – then this movie is for you.

Tara, played by Shefali Shah, is the epitome of elegance. Let me tell you, not only are her looks breathtaking, but from the way she talks, the way she slides those hairs disturbing her back of her ear, to the way she thinks only about her children, and the way she runs a successful catering business with her cooking skills – Tara is pure elegance!

You will fall in love once again, even if you are someone who is not into romcoms or love stories. Tara is a single mother, a widow. This movie shows how such women are supposed to never feel universal emotions like love, intimacy, companionship ever again. It's ridiculous – society, that's as human as them, fails to understand or sometimes pretends to understand that we can't go through life alone. Who decided the right or wrong age to fall in love anyway?

Tara, being a single mother, sends tiffin to a veteran theatre actor who is in the middle of a divorce. We see both of them having telephonic conversations as the movie begins. They haven’t met; their only conversations are in the evening through phone calls. Amar is a lost and lonely person in his personal and professional life. Tara is responsible, there-for-everyone kind of a person, but on the inside, she is the loneliest person too. Tara and Amar start finding comfort in the conversations that didn’t demand anything in return; they both flow along with each other with love and warmth.

Tara and Amar on screen are one of those rare couples who portray intimacy effortlessly. When they meet, their shared glances, the way they let intimacy bring them closer to who they really are and what they desire – all of it is said on screen without any words. You really have to watch this movie to see how beautifully it captures their love and longing for each other.

When people find out about this unconventional connection, Tara is not even supported by her own son, and it breaks my heart to see Tara in that situation. She is literally ready to give up the only solace she found in Amar for her children again. But what we really hope for is Tara to find love once again, as the title suggests.

"Once Again" gives us a great journey of different emotions, societal pressures, and how they affect individuals, how they suffocate them. Finding ourselves while finding someone to love shouldn’t have anything to do with what people think and shouldn’t affect our choices – this is what the end of "Once Again" teaches us.