Rabia & Olivia
Cast: Sheeba Chaddha, Nayab Khan, Helena Prinzen-Klages, Mustafa Sheikh, Shadab Khan, and others
Director: Shadab Khan
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar
Rating: 1 star
There are good films, there are bad films, and then there are some films that make you question their existence. You seem to wonder what led the actors, the director, the producers, and the technicians to come together for this terrible project. The latest film on Disney+ Hotstar Rabia & Olivia is one such film.
Rabia, played by Nayab Khan, is an illegal Indian immigrant living in Canada. She gets the job of a nanny to a nine-year-old girl Olivia, played by Helena Prinzen-Klages, who lost her mother two years back and lives with her negligent father. Olivia suffers from night terrors - a sleep disorder causing her to wake up with intense screaming, panic, and crying in the middle of her sleep.
Rabia and Olivia develop a compassionate bond with each other which even includes the former showing Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan to the latter. Olivia has been put on medications due to her stressed mental health by the psychiatrists, and Rabia gradually replaces them with love and care. Things take a drastic turn when she gets arrested for the same reason for stopping her treatment.
Well, the film could have turned out to be a heartwarming drama but instead is reduced to nothing but a desperate attempt to gain sympathy. It has awful direction, terrible screenplay, patchy editing with scenes being cut in middle, and people who don't know how to act, except for the talented Sheeba Chaddha. She, who plays Rabia's mother guiding her on how to take care of Olivia on phone calls from India, has also been purely wasted. I wonder why she signed up for it.
Even though the film runs for only 85 minutes, I wished it would have ended an hour earlier. It lacks any emotional depth and finesse. The drama doesn't move you for even one minute. Made in Hindi and English, the Shadab Khan directorial is simply boring and dull, and will leave you exhausted by its end. Rabia & Olivia is a complete waste of your time. Please attempt it at your own risk.
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