Chintu Ka Birthday Review: A Film Where Performances & Writing Walk Away With The Cake, Leaving You With Hope And A Smile
The tough times of the covid-19 pandemic have certainly made us stop, look around, think and reprioritize our lives based on thinks that matter the most. It was therefore a good idea on the part of the makers to release a film like Chintu Ka Birthday to instill hope in the hearts of those who take each day as it comes in these trying times.
Capturing a day in the life of an Indian family caught in the cross hairs of the U.S. Iraq war, the film simply gets you with its story sans any machismo, action or bloodbath. Making us question somethings we might take for granted Chintu Ka Birthday presents a family simply want
to put together a birthday celebration for a six-year-old. All they need is to decorate the house with some streamers and balloons, get a birthday cake and bring together some friends of Chintu for one evening. How difficult could that be right?
Some uninvited guests to the party however pose a challenge that the family might not have thought through and puts a target on their backs. From an absent cake to bombs going off everything is facing south except the family’s hope for executing the evening as planned.
Vinay Pathak plays Chintu’s father who has been helping to plan his son’s birthday for days to ensure it is perfect and that his sixth makes up for the birthday that they could not celebrate last year. A simple R.O. salesman who found his way from Bihar to Bagdad as an illegal immigrant, giving Chintu a good birthday is all he has on his mind setting aside all the turmoil that’s outside his control. The actor as usual is exceptional in portrayal making you feel the vulnerability of a man who is unable to get his family out of a situation that his aspirations for a better life put him in.
Tillotama Shome, on the other hand, plays Chintu’s mom who is shielding both her kids from harm both physically and emotionally, being the anchor that keeps it all together. Seeing through the impossibility of the situation and yet putting up a brave face so that the family gets though the one important day they want to celebrate. The actress wins it with her act as the resilient mother.
While these two actors carry the film on their shoulders the performances from Chintu aka Vedant Chibber, his determined sister Laxmi played by Bisha Chaturvedi and Seema Pahwa who plays begrudging mother in law cannot go unnoticed. In their significant parts the actors own their moment and truly make it a family act.
Chintu Ka Birthday is a delight with its perceptive storytelling that puts a smile on your face and leaves you reeling with hope which is something that everyone can really use right now. Kudos to the writers who make Chintu’s birthday party an unexpected gift for the viewers.
Chitu Ka Birthday is streaming on Zee 5.