The story
This is an interesting story of an Indian family based in Baghdad. Madan (Vinay Pathak) took to the sinful city in lieu of selling ‘cheap and safe’ water purifiers in the region. After making the required profits during the initial months, Madan is reunited with his family in Baghdad. Sadly, Baghdad is in state of siege as American troops have landed there in lieu of doing away with the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein.
Chintu (Vedant Raj Chibber), Madan’s younger son, is turning six, and the young lad keenly awaits his birthday celebration. The house is buzzing with excitement. His mother, Sudha (Tillotama Shome), has brought him new clothes. His older sister, Lakshmi (Bisha Chaturvedi), is in-charge of the cake and the decoration. On the morning of his birthday, Madan gives his son two big boxes of his favourite toffee and receives blessings from his maternal grandmother.
But, the happy moment is broken when an explosion takes place near their home. Luckily, they are all safe inside and no one is hurt. Soon after, two American soldiers barge into home, while looking for an Iraqi citizen who’s causing the mayhem. Madan hides his landlord Mahdi (Khalid Massou) in the storeroom. Will the soldiers find Mahdi and take him and Madan away? You will have to watch to find out.
The review
Satyanshu Singh, one of the directors, penned the film while attending lectures at a medical college in Pune in 2007, with Devanshu adding more elements to the plot. And, today, this film is a reality. Though fiction, it has a touch of reality. The characters are very relatable, with no pretentiousness. Madan’s family is from Bihar, and, interestingly, we get a more genuine representation of a Bihari family that doesn’t needlessly amplify the comical aspects as shown in other recorded narratives. Child artistes Chintu (Vedant Raj Chibber) and Lakshmi (Bisha Chatruvedi) have performed with absolute conviction. The kids have a perfect grip of the Arabic intonation and speak the language with relative ease. Vedant displays outstanding maturity with the that he plays. He’s popularly emerging as the apple of everyone’s eye both on and off sets.
The two American soldiers (Reginald .L. Barnes and Nathan Scholz) put up an impressive show. Their aggression has been portrayed in a realistic fashion. Their emotions are nuanced and are well captured by the camera. The dialogues are synchronised with the moods of every character on set.
Devanshu and Satyanshu have managed to suss out every emotion from their extremely talented cast. The plot builds progressively, arriving at an end that is heart-warming and fulfilling. The production team also has done a fabulous job by keeping the details of an era intact. —Review by Heer Kothari
Name of the movie – Chintu Ka Birthday
Time – 1 hour thirty minutes (approx.)
Platform – ZEE5
Cast – Vedant Raj Chibber, Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, Seema Pahwa, Bisha Chaturvedi, and Khalid Massou
Director – Devanshu Kumar and Satyanshu Singh
Rating – 4/5
