All I Want Is Everything (film)

Plot

All I Want Is Everything is set in Hyderabad city and its plot revolves around lives and friendship of three girls Vaijayanthi, Nidhi and Trisha. They are classmates and share their secrets with each other. Vaijayanthi comes from a Tamil conservative family; Nidhi comes from a broken family and was brought up by her single mother, a lawyer by profession; Trisha was brought up by a single father.

Vaijayanthi wants to become a filmmaker. She faces difficulties in dealing with her conservative family and her possessive boyfriend Vivek. Vaijayanthi becomes pregnant, but goes through an abortion because Vivek abstains from taking responsibility. Trisha is a somnambulist and an isolophobic (fears solitude). She worries that she would be left alone after the death of her single father and therefore wants to get settled in life by marrying her boyfriend Shashank. Nidhi is a lesbian struggling with her sexuality.

Cast

The cast of the film included–

Crew

The crew of the film included–

Development

This was Shital Morjaria's debut film as a director. Before this she worked as a media professional and made a few documentary films on social issues. It took Morjaria almost two years to finish the film. She said in an interview, Jhansi Laxmi & Rekha Pappu, the producers of film agreed to finance the project immediately after listening a brief narration from Morjaria.

About the title of the film Morjaria said that they thought of several titles for the film related to friendship, but, none of those worked well. One day she saw a friend wearing a T-shirt that read "All That I Want Is Everything" and they though that title was perfect for the film.

Making

Morjaria arranged a lot of workshops and rehearsals. She wanted to be fully prepared and a "chemistry" to develop between the members of the team before the shooting of the original film. The whole film was shot only in 10 days. Primarily it was intended to be a 90-minutes film, but, when released its duration was 62-minute. It took a long time to complete the post-production work. The budget of the film was ₹2.5 million (US$39,000) and Morjaria and others needed to pay from their own salary and savings to complete the film. Due to budget problem, even at the time of release of the movie, all the members of the production could not be paid. Prasad Film Lab and Ramanaidu Studios of Hyderabad gave them a discount of digital intermediate work and the cinematographers and editors charged almost nothing for their works for the film.

Casting

Morjaria met Sagari Venkata through a common nutritionist and gave her the script to read. Then she was offered to act in the film. Sagari, who played the character Vaijayanthi, initially wanted to play either Trisha's or Nidhi's character. Sagari's co-star Iantha Mitchell, who played Trisha's character, was looking for an opportunity to act in a film, while, Sampada Harkara had wishes to direct a film herself. Morjaria told in an interview that she met Harkara in Facebook and no one else was ready to play Nidhi's role till then.

Themes

Morjaria noticed that there were too many films made in Indian film industries on male friendship. Though (Indian) girls or women also make similar close friendship, that was almost never highlighted as the main topic in a film. That's why, she planned this film to measure societal image of contemporary Indian women. The film also attempts to portray the dreams, fears, aspirations, joys of contemporary Indian women.

Morjaria hinted in an interview that there were autobiographical elements in the film. When she was young, she was a sleepwalker like Trisha's character, or when she was younger, she was as angry as Nidhi. According with IBNLive the film was "probably inspired by" 2001 Bollywood film Dil Chahta Hai.

Release

The film released on 8 March 2013 on the International Women's day. It got a U/A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification, India. The film was showcased in Goa South Asian Film Festival, Kerala Vibgyor International Film Festival, Mumbai Third Eye Film Festival. Morjaria, the director of the film said– "We were planning for a long while to make this film. It is a fun movie altogether. We truly need the support of the crowds. Its a film that we have made for the sake of friendship with little interest in monetary benefits.

Reception

The film got mixed reactions from critics and viewers. IBNLive gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars. The lyrics and music of the film were appreciated. Morjaria's direction also got some appreciation. But, the simplicity and lack of resources were pointed out. IBNLive wrote in their review–

Unfortunately, due to the simplicity of the subject, the plot drags making you feel that you are watching a lengthy short-film. Moreover, due to lack of resources, the final output does seem to have the look and feel of a well-made documentary for television.

The Times of India commented in their review that the content of the film was "fresh", but, the "product" was a little "rudimentary". In this review the acting of Iantha Mitchell as Trisha was widely appreciated, while they found the acting of Sagari Venkata and Sampada Harkara as Vaijayanthi and Nidhi "impressive" too.