Konkona excels as always in short film 'Nayantara's Necklace'

You know the cliché that all that glitters is not gold? In Nayantara’s Necklace, director Jaydeep Sarkar seems to want to show that clichés become clichés because there is a kernel of truth buried somewhere in them. Alka (Tillotama Shome) leads a humdrum middle-class life with her husband and son. Her new friend is Nayantara (Konkona Sen Sharma), a far richer woman who jet sets around the globe with family. They are on two ends of the social strata but meet because their sons attend the same school. [caption id=“attachment_2471250” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Konkona Sen Sharma in Nayantara’s Necklace. Screengrab from YouTube.[/caption] Alka is fascinated and intimidated by Nayantara: from her name, which Alka describes as being poetic, to her sense of style and her extravagant lifestyle of which Nayantara is full of stories. One night, Alka gets a taste of this highbrow lifestyle. And it doesn’t end very well, to say the least. It’s tough to convey all the nuances in 20 minutes but Sarkar, who co-wrote the film along with Aparnaa Chaturvedi and Ankur Khanna, pulls it off. Snappy editing adds to the effectiveness of his storytelling, even though the narrative flow keeps flitting between the past and the present. A highlight of the film is a scene in which Nayantara and Alka are discussing Alka’s childhood crush, Girish (Gulshan Devaiah). The banter between Nayantara and Alka flows naturally, like it would between any two gal pals, complete with cute giggles. Sharma excels as always, no surprises there. Shome effectively makes the viewers realise that Alka’s transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan is more than just skin deep. What Nayantara’s Necklace does best is make you think that sometimes, a humdrum life is not necessarily a bad one. Watch the full film here