Released under the PVR Director’s rare banner, All I Want Is Everything is probably inspired by Farhan Akthar’s film Dil Chahta Hai, but unlike Dil Chahta Hai, this one is a low budget chick-film, where three outstation female students who were total strangers before, bond over a period of a month at their hostel, during a film appreciation course in Hyderabad.
The film takes us straight to Vaijayanthi (Sagari), Nidhi (Sampada) and Trisha (Iantha). The three classmates open up and share their little secrets when they are not too busy with their class work, which was quite often. Vaijayanthi comes from a conservative family, Nidhi from a broken home raised by a single lawyer mother, and Trisha is raised by a single doting father.
The graph of the film is on an even keel. There are no major conflicts between the three protagonists. The only issue here is that they have their personal problems to deal with. Vaijayanthi is in constant dilemma of how to deal with her conservative south Indian family, an over-bearing difficult boyfriend Vivek and her dream of becoming a filmmaker. Trisha suffers from somnambulism, which she can’t help and isolophobia – a fear that she would be left alone in this world if her father dies, so she is in a hurry to get married to her steady beau Shashank. And Nidhi is a closeted lesbian.
These complications are revealed and sorted out over casual conversations that take place within the parameters of the hostel life. And over a period of time, you realise that this is a very talky film. The conversation goes on and on, non-stop. The dialogues are ordinary, yet lively. The camera angles capturing these conversations make it a delight to watch.
As for music, there is one song with nice lyrics which holds your attention and also the effective use of the sitar as the background score, adds to the charm of this film.
Tying up all possible women-related issues, writer-director Shital Morjaria in her maiden venture, has kept her story simple, uncomplicated and clear. She did dwell on her characters, but has not explored the layers beneath, that could reveal a thousand more tales, thus making this attempt look very amateurish. But she has managed to extract decent performances from her entire crew, who probably are first timers.
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.
Nevertheless, there is some freshness to this narration and a promise to excel.