CHUTNEY REVIEW – A Film by Large Barrel
CHUTNEY Story
This short film by Royal stag Large barrel select Chutney, begins by with Model Town garden party, Where men are talking about politics and other things with whiskey and women are in a corner gossiping about their regular life.
They talk about Vanita, how that ganwar(unsophisticated) is a mismatch for her sophisticated and charming husband Viri. Vanita suddenly joins the conversation and Rasika, the newlywed bride, changes the topic and compliments her and her husband.
In the next scene, Vanita sees her husband flirting with Raskisa at the bar counter, she walks up to Rasika with no fear or shame and invites her to her home for a long-overdue culinary class.
Release Date: 28TH November 2016
Genre: Drama, short
Director: Jyoti Kapur Das
Cast: Tisca Chopra, Rasika Dugal, Akash Bharadwaj, Adil Hussein
also read- That Fettish Of Watching Short Films Is On?
Rasika agrees and goes to her house the next day. Vanita serves her ‘Pakkode’ and ‘Chutney’ which Rasika devours. Along with the food, Chopra’s character tells her a story which is where the film takes a turn for the unsettling. Vanita tells Rasika a story about the murder of their servant in their house, we are never told if it’s true or something Vanita made up.
CHUTNEY Review
Chutney has a connection with food and death, this connection itself is unnerving and can put off people. Food is usually associated with only good things, here it is very close to death. Chutney is established in the heart of Old Delhi, the doors, the walls, and the neighborhood everything is authentic and helps in bringing out the character of the city too.
Vanita played by Tisca Chopra initially appears to be the naïve married woman from a small town Ghaziabad, Chopra has mastered the accent and has completely left her vanity for this role, her nails are not in shaped, she is superbly believable and so is Rasika Dugal’s character who’s wide eyes sometimes flirt with Viri and are also scared yet curious about the tale Vanita is telling.
Vanita is aware of her husband’s philandering, she however does not have the option to give divorce or to do anything due to which her family’s name might get maligned.
So she uses other ways, she tries to scare Rasika off by telling her a story, this story might be true as well but we know one thing for sure behind Vanita’s story is the instinct to mark her territory. It is her way of taking what is hers.
Short films sometimes can open our world to many more interesting stories, Due to lack of time establishing characters, plot, and environment might become difficult but here is where Chutneys strength lies, it is the attention to detail that brings about such authenticity, from the party to the perverse servant who spits in Vanita and Rasika’s cold drink. Kudos to Royal stag Large barrel select for bringing such a gem to us that too for free.
Once the story begins unfolding we think it won’t get creepier but it does, it gets as strange as it could get and that is what sets chutney apart some not just many short films but many big-budget thriller films too. This brilliant masterpiece can be witnessed on Youtube.
#CHUTNEY REVIEW
