Tuesday 19 January 2021

Kheer Short & Sweet Film By Terribly Tiny Tales

 

The interesting times we live in, where the ads are fifteen minutes and the films are shorter than some trailers. We are talking about the short film Kheer by Terribly Tiny Tales, directed by Surya Balakrishnan and written by producer, Sharanya Rajgopal. Also this is not a review but a train-of-thoughts. 
 
The short film opens at what seems like a simple story of two aging couple arguing when their grandkids show up uninvited. "Who needs an invitation to visit their nana's house?" the grandkid, Naman announces. "Boy, Is Anupam Kher in a soup or kheer?" I want to say when the next scene unfolds. This quickly becomes a scene where we as audience will be tested.

The movie is set in a city like Mumbai based on the hustle-bustle outside. A seemingly modern city but it is the dynamics between the people that truly shows you how modern you are. The times they are a-changing but it is great when they change towards something better. If you think Umm how else does it work? Aren't we becoming modern every passing day." And whether you believe in modernity or not people have a belief that it is what is happening. But not always, society has a way of taking one step ahead and two steps behind.

Look at this movie Kheer, it is challenging you in a way you might not realise. What are your thoughts about the situation in the movie? Are you thinking, "Oh, it is so gross for an old man to date?" Or "Of course, it is okay if a lonely old man has a companion but that girl is too young to have a boyfriend!"

Whatever your opinion you are judging two people whom you don't know inside out, and whose life you have had a chance to glimpse for only something more than a ten minutes.

Did you say, "That's not Indian culture! Think about it for a moment. Not even hundred years ago, men older than what Anupam Kher appears to be used to get married to girls of his granddaughter's age, who appears to be something of ten years. And mind you even till the end it is not revealed whether the girl Naina actually does have a boyfriend or that woman, Rekha is the Nana's girlfriend, but did you take time to pass a judgment? 

The grandfather beautifully reveals in the end that he makes kheer everyday, marking his nature as a person who takes life as it comes. I like it when movies don't preach or point towards a morality, but love it when they plant subtle indicators towards a thought or idea. That is what makes this an incredible movie.

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