Dir: Tanushree Das & Saumyananda Sahi | Cast: Tillotama Shome, Chandan Bisht, Sayan Karmakar and Suman | India 93\
A vibrant domestic drama that follows the life of a modest Indian family in Calcutta where poor families live cheek and jowl with each other and loud arguments and are just part of everyday life.
Hardworking mother Maya juggles several jobs to support her family. Desperate to get her son Debroop into a good school: education is the only way of succeeding in India – with is no social security, it’s the survival of the fittest, the poor simply fall by the wayside. But the boy is more interested in dancing and helping his uncle out – without a pay-packet, much to Maya’s irritation.
Debroop is not the only aimless member of the family so Maya has her work cut out. Sundar, her husband, shows little interest in life since he left the army suffering from PTSD, despite Maya setting up job interviews to get him out of the house. When he disappears one night, the police suggest foul play as events take an unexpected turn for the worse.
Tillotama Shome’s Maya is the star turn in this colourful snapshot of everyday Bengali life, beautifully captured on location in the heart of Calcutta by Saumyananda Sahi who shot the award-winning All that Breathes
BERLINALE 2025