The butterfly effect is such a fascinating phenomenon to consider. Imagine, one small decision has the potential to impact your future and send you down a path toward success, failure, or somewhere in between. Every day, we gamble with fate without even knowing it. The outcome of one of these “happy accidents” can be seen in director Raj Rachakonda’s film, 8 AM Metro, which tells a bittersweet story about how a chance encounter ends up saving the lives of two people who had been secretly struggling.
8 AM Metro opens with Iravati (Saiyami Kher), a 29-year-old housewife who has been away from her family while taking care of her pregnant sister. Even though her trip is only a couple of weeks long, she misses her husband and two children and looks forward to returning to her familiar routine.
Another reason why she longs for the comfort of home is that while she’s been in this new city, she has had to confront her irrational fear of riding the train. Facing this phobia head-on and alone has been challenging, Iravati is constantly on the brink of panic attacks and fainting spells. That is, until she meets a kind stranger, Preetam (Gulshan Devaiah). Preetam calms her down, immediately establishing trust with his willingness and ability to help and her acceptance of support.
Iravati and Preetam go on to develop a platonic relationship, in which they discuss their families, fears, and struggles. “What do people think about moments before suicide?” one asks, while the other engages in conversation about the “lonely funeral project.” Their discourse is predominately heavy and much of the film harkens back to talk about anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts.
However, there is a lightness that comes from the characters’ shared interest in poetry. As writers and readers of the art form, the characters use poetry to express things that would otherwise be difficult to say. Although for Preetam, he continues to hide a secret that threatens to unravel his newly-formed relationship with Iravati and push him even closer to the brink.
Written by Shruti Bhatnagar, Asad Hussain, and Raj Rachakonda, the story is visceral and dark but poignant in all the right places. “We often remember relationships from the last few moments we spend together,” whispers Preetam to Iravati during one of their afternoons together. The subtext is also strong as we sense the characters waver between the lure of remaining platonic to becoming more than friends.
While the dialogue intermittently switches between English and Hindi, the closed captions are unfortunately so tiny that they were almost illegible. At times during non-English moments, they drop out altogether. So unless you speak Hindi, it’s difficult to understand what’s going on in those stretches.
Bringing audiences back into the world of the film are the original songs by composer Mark Robin. Upbeat music and poetic lyrics set against sweeping montages give the film a space to breathe and decompress from the heaviness of the subject matter in other scenes.
It’s been said that people pass like ships in the night, and this sentiment is true in the sweet, affecting 8 AM Metro. Sometimes people who make the biggest impact in one’s life are those we barely know. Although the film could have trimmed about 20 minutes out, 8 AM Metro is a valiant effort at showing how a simple act of kindness has the power to change someone’s life.
