| As a romantic comedy, Picture This is light on the romance and sometimes funny. But Simone Ashley shines as photographer Pia, a single, independent, career-focused young woman who is one of the best heroines this genre has seen. The film gets off on the right foot, even though Pia doesn’t, when she has to hightail it out of her studio pulling on soccer shorts and flip flops which she loses one of on her way to a secretive meeting with her mother at the bank. | | 2025
Directed by: Prarthana Mohan
Screenplay by: Nikita Lalwani
Starring: Simone Ashley, Hero Fiennes Tiffin
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Her mother – a divorced woman who raised two daughters on her own instilling them with the confidence to buck traditions and forge their own path in life – has announced that she has a safety deposit box filled with beautiful and expensive jewellery which will be gifted to them when they get married. Pia’s younger sister Sonal is delighted considering her wedding is coming up in a few weeks. Pia is also delighted because the proceeds from the jewellery could save her failing business, until she learns that her mother is serious about the wedding day part. Pia has no intention of getting married, and now all of a sudden her mother has unexpectedly become traditional demanding that a woman must get married when she turns 30. Not the stance you would expect a divorced woman to have.
I love Pia’s confidence in herself and her confusion at her mother’s newfound desire for conservative traditions. The set-up for the romantic comedy becomes a bit too obvious when we are introduced to Pia’s ex at the same time the family announces they’re playing matchmaker for Pia and setting her up on five blind dates to find a suitor before the wedding.
The film does move a bit too slowly at this point. Some of the blind dates are genuinely funny, especially the 2nd and 3rd one since they seemed like great guys up until two very different shocking reveals. Meanwhile, as Pia is half-heartedly going on dates, we are constantly reminded that her business is failing. The film could have been sped up by spending less time rehashing the financial struggles of her photography business and spending that time mining the dates for more comedy. Her gay best friend Jay (Luke Fetherston) does his best throwing in some quick barbs, but the film can feel disjointed between the romance, the comedy, and the drama of Pia’s family life.
The romantic pairing mostly works because we’re given sufficient backstory to both characters, but the chemistry isn’t quite there because Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Charlie is absent from the movie for large stretches. While we do see how their characters fit together in the few scenes they do share, they’re not together often enough for the film to really work as a romance.
Picture This definitely has its heart in the right place. The focus on her Indian culture and the relationship with her family while also trying to be a typical romantic comedy gives the genre a fresh and modern feel.
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