Chintu Ke Birthday (2020) Movie Review

The trailer for the movie was really exciting. Produced by AIB, this film went through some production issues due to the effects of #MeToo on AIB itself. But, after overcoming them, the film has finally arrived on Zee5. How did I feel about the film? Let's have a look at Chintu Ke Birthday:

Chintu ke Birthday is a 2020 family anti-war drama film starring Vinay Pathak, Tillothama Shome, Vedant Chhiber, Bisha Chaturvedi and Seema Pahwa in lead roles. It is directed by Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Kumar. The story revolves around the Tiwarys moved to Iraq from Bihar and stuck due to the famous US Army attack and some factors. How this family celebrates the birthday of Chintu, the youngest in the family whilst all the chaos is the main premise of the film?

This screenplay of the film is very well done. It is tight and engages us. First of all, all the characters designed in the centre of the film steal the show. This family is very real. The uber optimistic father, a very supportive and practical mother, a nagging but loving grandmother, a pragmatic and mature sister and a cute and innocent brother. The scenes establishing the family i.e., the first half hour is excellent. I have to add by saying that the animation scene in the beginning of the film perfectly sets up the mood and environment of the film. After widely smiling for about half hour, the writer designs the entering of soldiers with shock and I knew then that this film will work genius. We see two soldiers entering the house, investigating the house and they were happy enough to leave the family as they are civilians. But, then there are two threads in the film that completely screw the situation up. I won't reveal any of them so that you can enjoy. 

Now, the message of the film. The film tries to establish multiple perspectives in the film but everything ties up to the concept of humanity. The perspective of the child is seen through the animation clip where he describes the situation of his location with words like "The Great American Uncle" etc. The perspective of the family as a whole is shown to be very positive with minor hiccups. They do not have to do anything with the situation. They just want to get out of Iraq and live a happy life. There is an Iraqi person in the film where he sees Saddam as god and would call Americans "dogs". The American soldiers in the film are also stuck like the family and so they are frustrated. The scenes between the family and soldiers feel human and real because of that. There is also an American kid who sells bad CD's as his school is burnt. This is the only element I found out of place. With all these characters, I really got the message of humanity. 

POSITIVES:

1.  The Acting : The stellar cast did what they do the best, connect us to their characters and make us empathise with them. We know how Vinay Pathak, Seema Pahwa and Tillothama Shome perform with good roles but the surprises for me were Bisha Chaturvedi and Vedant Chhibey. Vedant Chhibey is cute and innocent. It is quite easy to portray it but perfectly done. Bisha Chaturvedi is my find from the movie. She acted very very well. She is very mature and it shows in the film. She is very sturdy until the scene where she cries. 
2. The writing and message: Look up...
3. The technical prowess: The editing is sharp. The length of 85 minutes perfectly captures everything. The cinematography is also very good. I want you to observe the long shots taken because you may not observe it because of the characters.

NEGATIVES:

The unnecessary American Kid which put me off the film for 5 minutes.

I should say, AIB and the directors have given us a very interesting drama film filled with amazing acting and thoughtful messaging. Zee5 has given a good film that I highly recommend check out.