It didn’t take long for coronavirus content to descend on networks and streaming services. From Connecting… to Love in the Time of Corona and beyond, these shows and films mined the calamitous virus like one would a new trend, attempting to extract meaning from the mayhem and reexamining everyday life under altered conditions. It’s hard to predict which of these projects will stand the test of time, but 7 Days, a charming romantic comedy about an Indian couple forced to shelter in place after their first date, deserves to be among those with at least some staying power.
Premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and directed by Roshan Sethi, 7 Days opens documentary-style, with clips of real-life Indian couples recounting how they met. The grainy, pixelated videos humorously recall the early pandemic days when, despite the existence of phones, Zoom became the preferred method of communication.
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7 Days
The testimonies tee up subsequent voiceovers by the mothers of the film’s fictional protagonists, Ravi (Karan Soni) and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan). The two women dutifully recite details from their children’s online dating profiles: Ravi is endearing, slightly awkward and very funny. He spends most of his days in a lab and is eager to find the perfect “traditional” wife. Rita is ostensibly Ravi’s ideal match — she too is looking for a traditional marriage, will go fully vegetarian for the right man and her hobbies include cooking for others.
We meet Ravi and Rita picnicking under cursed conditions. It’s March 2020 and as news of the coronavirus spreads, the young adults fumble through the early moments of an uneasy first date in California (a city is never specified). The oppressive heat causes both parties to sweat profusely; the location — which Ravi picked based on outdated Google images — turns out to be more of an arid reservoir than a verdant pond; and the masks and gloves they both wear give the whole encounter dystopian vibes.
When the two begin receiving phone alerts about canceled flights and shelter-in-place orders, they decide to call it. There’s only one problem: Ravi has no way of getting home. Rita reluctantly invites him to her cluttered apartment so he can order a taxi, and this is where the narrative unfurls, in obvious but funny fashion.
Unable to find a car or a hotel room, Ravi hangs out in Rita’s apartment and, within the first 24 hours, realizes the personality she presented online and during their first date is far from the real her. Beer bottles strewn across the kitchen reveal that she does, in fact, drink, and the leftover chicken drumsticks in her fridge mean she’s definitely not vegetarian. Thrown by the deception, Ravi, who now has to stay at Rita’s apartment for an indefinite period of time, abruptly ends the relationship that never really was.
The rest of the film follows the duo as they create a temporary makeshift life together. This premise — of two people with divergent personalities potentially falling in love — is not new, but 7 Days satisfyingly freshens up a stale formula, thanks in large part to the lead performances. Soni (who is known for his role as Dopinder in the Deadpool films and co-wrote the 7 Days screenplay) and Viswanathan (who broke out in Blockers) use their impressive physical comedy skills to imbue their characters with distinctive temperaments, creating some laugh-out-loud moments. Scrunching his eyes when in denial, giggling when nervous, Ravi has a lack of self-awareness that, as played by Soni, is amusing.
Viswanathan’s character is less fully realized on the page, but the actress does a considerable amount with what she’s given. Underneath the callous attitude and dark humor, Rita is a big softie, and Viswanathan intimates that vulnerable side with ease. Still, Rita is a caricature of a millennial woman à la Girls: She talks freely about using her vibrator, confesses to initiating a secret relationship with a married man and may or may not know how to operate a kitchen stove. Although these “traits” make for an entertaining contrast with Ravi, they’re not enough to give us a full sense of Rita’s character.
COVID-19 amps the film’s narrative stakes and steers its visual style. DP Jeremy Mackie favors shaky camera movements and close-ups, which give 7 Days a decisively realistic quality. Unable to leave the confines of Rita’s apartment, Ravi and Rita get real close, real fast. Part of this has to do with the fact that Ravi never stops talking, his monologues giving way to heartfelt confessions. Although Rita occasionally interjects or launches into her own monologue, hers register as less personal, almost perfunctory.
Enjoyable as it is, the romance in 7 Days can’t help but feel a bit contrived. I walked away from the film wondering about alternate possibilities that would still showcase the talents of the gifted leads — perhaps a movie in which Ravi and Rita redirect the awkwardness of that first date and commit to a whirlwind and chaotic friendship instead of aiming for the same old love story.
