A still from Chintu Ka’s birthday. (courtesy zee5premium)
Throw: Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, Seema Pahwa, Bisha Chaturvedi, Vedant Chibber, Khalid Massou, Reginald L Barnes and Nathan Scholz
Director: Devanshu Kumar and Satyanshu Singh
Evaluation: 3 stars (out of 5)
A boy is six years old. His parents, sister and grandmother organize a birthday party, especially since the treat of the previous year was scuttled. But will it be child’s play this time? The family of water filter vendor Madan Tiwari (Vinay Pathak) is stranded in war-torn Baghdad.
The central premise of Chintu Ka’s birthday, written and directed by Satyanshu and Devanshu Singh and produced by the men behind All India Bakchod (AIB), is fairly simple, but the film is bold enough to extend its reach and bring out the harmful effects of war on a family. in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Strong performances by Pathak and his two proven co-actors (Tillotama Shome and Seema Pahwa), a tidy scenario that is good to stay within your limits and a theme that contains a lot of water, especially in the light of the ‘the time we live in, where the plague and meanness are compounded by incompetent and selfish demagogues who thrive on sowing seeds of division and hatred.
Chintu Ka’s birthday, streaming on Zee5, is sort of an easy affair, but it definitely has an air of well-being. Putting history in Iraq is an easy solution. It allows an overly generalized statement on the fate of people trapped in a conflict zone. The filmmakers don’t have to walk on political toes closer to home while making the right noises.
What the film says (the dialogue is in Hindi, English and Arabic) is beyond reproach, but the prism through which it expresses its concerns is an overly expeditious touch. Therefore, his celebration of human resilience does not ring true. But the film has just enough heat to be able to line the folds.
It is easy when you employ two muscular American soldiers (Reginald L Barnes and Nicholas Scholz) to represent the ugly face of the military invasion or to present a victimized Shiite political activist (Khalid Massou) to allude to the violent purge of opponents of Saddam Hussein. The American army duo, armed to the teeth, burst into the Tiwari house and continue to demonstrate the extent of their power.
Chintu Ka’s birthday remains focused on the trials and tribulations that the family faces during a half-day during which all their plans seem destined to take off. A birthday party may seem like a harmless diversion in itself, but when it is organized in the midst of incessant fire and bomb blasts, it takes on disturbing proportions.
Playing in April 2004, a year after the US invasion of Iraq and four months after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Chintu Ka’s birthday, a low-budget business, does not have the sweep and the depth of a life is beautiful. Not that he even tries.
The action takes place entirely inside a house and the only exterior shots of the film are a dusty path that leads to an iron door, which is the entrance to the Tiwari house. A crucial flashback sequence explaining the circumstances under which a man from Bihar found himself in Iraq with a family and who can no longer leave the country is delivered in the form of an animated passage which envelops an otherwise prohibitive narrative in a lightness momentary.
According to the New Delhi government, the last of the Indians was evacuated from Iraq. This particular family has been forgotten and left to fend for itself. The construction is simplistic, but the fate of the Tiwaris arouses empathy because of the universal nature of their struggle.
As war rages around them (all off camera of course), they must keep their heads above water and cling to the conviction that their misery will end one day. Their story is the story of all the victims of conflicts, military or otherwise, caught in limbo and paying the price for a world invaded by militarism.
Madan, who left his home several years ago to settle in Iraq, is not a Guido Orefice. But he is a good father. He will do everything necessary to let nothing hinder the little joys of his son. His wife Sudha (Shome) and his stepmother Sarla Devi (Pahwa) are his voluntary accomplices, as is his daughter Lakshmi (Bisha Chaturvedi).
The boy, too young to understand what is happening (Vedant Raj Chibber is perfectly thrown like the beatific Chintu with glasses) is oblivious to the threats swirling around him. He is happy and sure to know that everything is ready for an all-out celebration.
Nostalgia for the homeland is a common thread running through Chintu Ka’s birthday and takes the form of a burning desire. The ringtone of Madan’s cell phone is an instrumental version of Sare jahaan achcha Hindustan hamara. Her daughter is old enough to feel the despair of her parents. Her mother and grandmother can only claim what they have lost and wish to recover.
They sing a folk song without musical accompaniment (Shome and Pahwa lend their voice to it), which serves as a measure of the burden of their loss. What the two Croon women translate as “O little koel, my dear bird, please drop a few berries”. But in this war-ravaged land, hunted down by death and destruction, there are no songbirds or succulent berries.
A birthday party in danger of being sloppy is a passable metaphor for a besieged country. For all its timely advantages, it is really worth celebrating thanks to the boost it receives from skillful writing, fine play and complete technical finesse.
