Talking about ourselves to other people, especially those we would like to impress, a love interest on the first date or our future employee in a job interview, we certainly present ourselves in the best way possible, leaving out those aspects of our personality we would like to hide, even from ourselves. As we grow up, meeting the demands of a world which has re-defined its expectations, at least this is what we tell ourselves, concepts such as procrastination have become something like a deadly sin. However, especially now, that we are forced to spend so much time in our own homes, due to lockdowns or curfews, keeping up a routine becomes quite challenging, so that in the end, we rather stay in bed, watch some more Netflix and just order takeout.
“Diary of a Procrastinator” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
While others do not see the attraction of this concept for a story, director Rohit Ganguly has chosen this as the foundation of this short feature “Diary of a Procrastinator”, which almost feels like it is rooted in the biography of the filmmaker. The story revolves around a young man (Avishek Goswami), an aspiring writer and filmmaker (?) currently working on the first draft for his next project “Diary of a Procrastinator”. Even though his deadline is rapidly approaching, he feels stuck in the story and rather becomes lost in whatever show or movie is streaming on Netflix or stays in bed for hours. Besides an argument with his boss, who becomes increasingly impatient, his girlfriend (?) is also dissatisfied with him not doing anything in their home, missing appointments and failing to get his work done.
In the description of his short feature director Rohit Ganguly defines it as a “slice of life comedy” about people like the central character who feel “there is always a tomorrow”. Given the brief moments we see, we get the impression these roughly 24 hours in the protagonist's life are an example of a condition which has been going on for quite some time. Ganguly's camera neither judges nor makes fun of the situation, because the comedy, as we see in the dialogue with his girlfriend, derives from the fact he seems to be unable to do anything now, and rather schedules it for tomorrow. The nature of the performance by Goswami as well as the feature's aesthetics describe a certain sympathy for the character if anything, since his condition might just be all to familiar to us.
At the same, “Diary of a Procrastinator” describes rather than analyses its themes. While the aforementioned way of showing the way the protagonist goes about his day and “solves” conflicts is quite relatable, this does not change the fact that not much is done with the themes here. Similar to the main character's first draft which we see briefly, Ganguly has a good starting position, but seems to have stopped at one point without actually going deeper into the subject, which is quite a shame and makes his feature quite frustrating to watch at times.
In conclusion, “Diary of a Procrastinator” tells a very relatable story about a person who thinks there will always be a tomorrow for his duties. Its slice-of-life approach is certainly fitting to the topic, even though as a viewer you also wish there would be something more to it rather than showing a person who is just lazy.
