Chintu Ka Birthday Is A Story Of How Hope Keeps You Going In Life

If you have a kid in your life you know how sensitive birthday parties are. This annual event is the most important day of the year in their extremely exciting lives. So as parents and elders, you feel responsible to make it even more special. Chintu Ka Birthday is the story of Chintu’s sixth birthday and a sequence of events that make it well, unusual. Basically George W Bush decides to ruin Chintu’s special day! Yes, it’s a story set in 2004.

The story shows exactly the kind of hope we are all looking to keep going in this lockdown.

This film directed by Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Kumar, which was just released on Zee5 talks about an Indian immigrant family which is stuck in a house in war-torn Baghdad and one cannot stop drawing a parallel to the way we are stuck at home because of a different kind of lockdown. Chintu’s family is stuck in Iraq at the time of Saddam Hussein’s fall and are struggling for a way to get back to India. However, the Indian government has already announced that all Indians have been brought back home.

The film raises important questions on illegal immigration and how it can change people's lives. Also, it will strike a chord with many who are unable to go back home during this lockdown. Vinay Pathak as Chintu’s father Madan stands for the hope, he looks for positivity no matter what his circumstances. The film depicts the unconditional love parents have for their children even under dire circumstances and how they can go to any length to protect them. It is the simplicity of this tale which will touch you. The story shows exactly the kind of hope we are all looking to keep going in this lockdown.

Chintu’s family is stuck in Iraq at the time of Saddam Hussein’s fall and are struggling for a way to get back to India.

The film opens with Chintu (Vedant Chibber) telling us how his water-filter salesman father reached Baghdad and the story of Saddam’s downfall and one wonders at the child-like simplicity with which he tells this tale of global political conflict. The film’s portrayal of an authentic Bihari family is super. We are told that he could not have a birthday the previous year and so this year everyone in his family has rolled up their sleeves to make it double fun. Alas, things do not go as per plan this year too as some party poopers barge into the house who can, not just ruin the party but could even destroy their family too.

The film opens with Chintu (Vedant Chibber) telling us how his water-filter salesman father reached Baghdad and the story of Saddam’s downfall and one wonders at the child-like simplicity with which he tells this tale of global political conflict.

The film works on emotions. The scene in which the landlord Mahdi (Khalid Massou) removes his family portrait to make a place for Chintu’s birthday decoration, is heart-warming. You cannot miss how he is trying to see a little bit of his family (he hasn’t seen in 13 years) in this one that now stays in his home. Tillotama Shome as Chintu’s mother nails it and Bisha Chaturvedi as his sister Laxmi is delightful. Seema Pahwa as the nagging nani rocks, especially while bickering with Madan for his inability to take them back home.

The film also touches upon the condition of American soldiers who are stuck in Iraq due to the war. Nostalgia for home is a theme running throughout the film. Overall, it is a feel-good film and definitely worth a watch.

The views expressed are the author's own.