‘Early Days’ review: Elegant Mumbai-set debut explores intrusive impact of social media

Dir/scr: Priyankar Patra. India/Singapore. 2025. 102mins

In Priyankar Patra’s eerily present debut two-hander, a younger couple simply beginning a life collectively in Mumbai get misplaced within the miasma of social media and the calls for of full-time influencing. Initially, Preeti (Manasi Kaushik) and Samrat’s (Sarthak Sharma) seemingly innocuous movies are greeted by associates as charming slices of life, however quickly flip right into a income stream – which places stress on their relationship. Exploring the disintegration of a relationship by an more and more acquainted aesthetic, Early Days indicators a resonant and related new voice.

Alerts a resonant and related new voice

Screenwriter and playwright Patra, who additionally serves as his personal cinematographer and producer, beforehand served as assistant director on As soon as Upon A Time In Calcutta director for Aditya Vikram Sengupta, who serves as an govt producer right here. Sengupta’s identify might open just a few further doorways however the zeitgeisty subject material is simply as seemingly to assist Early Days acquire traction following its premiere in Crimson Sea’s New Visions. As a window on on a regular basis center class Mumbai, it is a drama from India that has nothing to do with caste or poverty – that might additionally pique the curiosity of distributors and festivals with an eye fixed in the direction of Indian indies. Satirically, or maybe deliberately, the movie is ought to play effectively on streaming platforms.

Damaged into three chapters, Early Days begins when Preeti and Samrat transfer into a brand new flat in Mumbai. Sitting by a window and watching the rain, the affectionate new couple make plans and chatter aimlessly about what life within the massive metropolis will probably be like for them. Although clearly aspiring to one thing better, Preeti is a rustic woman and Samrat is a sweet-natured man who simply desires to help his household and make Preeti completely satisfied.

Preeti and Samrat are virtually at all times smiling, notably within the movies they begin posting for family and friends documenting their discovery of Mumbai. Notably, the feedback part is loaded with observations about how cute, lovely and in love they appear. By the top of their first month within the metropolis, Preeti has renamed their joint social media profile PriSm and began dabbling in influencing as a aspect hustle. Patra shoots these early scenes, these early days, in an virtually grainy cell phone aesthetic, in tight close-up and in awkward, typically candid compositions that mimic beginner. It’s the vaguely voyeuristic language of digital cell communications and it brings a tone of immediacy to the narrative.

It’s not lengthy earlier than Preeti begins neglecting her precise job, partaking with Samrat purely as a director and obsessing over an unseen competitor she is aware of from her college days. By the point a yr has handed, a wedge has been pushed between Preeti and Samrat that rapidly turns into a gaping chasm. The emotionally wealthy close-ups diminish in frequency as the road between their private and non-private lives blurs, culminating in a roadside confrontation that’s most likely headed for social media shops as a PriSm exposé.

Patra’s script doesn’t say something new about tradition and social media, however says it with the palpable, judgement-free understanding of a digital native. There’s an genuine understanding of the ephemeral or diaphanous nature of influencing and its attraction; as Samrat suggests, it’s straightforward further money. It’s the ensuing influence of this straightforward money and the calls for on our time, consideration, private connections and – additionally as Samrat observes – emotional area that Patra is most excited about interrogating. 

Preeti’s willingness to stay their lives for followers and likes is one factor, however her dedication to basically alter who she is – demonstrated by a brand new ‘model collab’ and her abruptly stylishly wavy hair – is kind of one other. This completely trendy quagmire is embodied elegantly by Kaushik and Sharma in a pair of stellar performances that make Preeti and Samrat really feel lived in for his or her relatability, heat, goofiness and imperfect humanity.