If I had written Top 10 Hindi Webseries to Watch Before You Die, Gullak would have been on the list at any cost. Though for me, I prefer films (it’s a personal choice, not any hatred for the other) over web series. I feel cinema has the capability of telling so much more within a limited constraint of time. And this factor of cinema is what makes it more interesting to me. But some series or TV shows break this thinking process and create a special space in your watching hierarchy.
While this writing is not on Gullak, and though it is considered underrated, I would not discuss the series or its narrative. In this section ‘Let’s Talk About the Frame’, I will only discuss a particular frame from any cinema or show that made me think and said so much more than words ever could.
The frame or the duration of the film that I am talking about can be traced to Season 2, final episode, where the photographer is taking a family photo.
What’s in the Frame
The photographer is being asked to take a family photo. Everyone stands sideways. First stands Annu, then Shanti, Aman, and at last, the father Santosh. The photographer asks him to stand beside his father, which may better the composition of the frame. He does what has been asked of him, though he hesitates. And then he stands beside his father.
So what is it about this that always touches my heart every time I revisit that frame, either on YouTube or somewhere else?
Let’s talk about the spatiality of the frame step by step.
The first frame shows everyone standing, but the frame leaves a negative space to the right of the father. That’s when the photographer asks Annu to stand beside his father.
Now look at this frame: Annu is standing beside his father, filling the negative space. Still, a negative space is pretty evident between the father and son. A melancholy background music plays. The photographer says, “Thoda na doori kam karna padega” (We have to decrease the distance in between). This quite evidently works as a metaphor for their tangled relationship.
Annu comes close to his father. The photographer clicks the photo. He again comments, “It is not going good, something is fishy about the frame.”
Santosh Mishra, the father, tags and holds Annu close, filling the void created in the frame. Annu bursts out with pent-up emotion and starts crying while holding back his tears. Even when his father pulls him in, he still hesitates.
Eventually, the frame gets filled.
And this is the last frame where we can see everyone standing so close to each other. Now the photographer is happy. In this last frame, the family is center-aligned, and the left and right sides of the frame are filled with negative spaces, suggesting the newly filled void that has been developed in the past episodes.
Why We Need to Talk About the Frame
Some could have deciphered this scene; some might not have. But we need to admire and encourage the use of frame and composition by both the director and the DOP of the show. While all the conflicts of the show have been present in dialogue, action, and narration (with the Gullak itself speaking), even within that scenario, a major resolution is provided purely through composition, framing, and acting.
This tells us how the use of camera, sound, and composition can also help us tell stories or serve as a continuation of the narrative. This creativity needs to be acknowledged.
Though this adds up to nothing, but I do cry every time I watch it!!!!
This is the link to the scene, I would ask everyone reading this – to please watch it at least once.
This section Let’s Talk About the Frame will continue exploring specific moments like this—frames that amazed me and left a lasting impression. Stay tuned or enable notifications so that when we post another such piece, you’ll get notified.
