A family wants to bake a cake for Chintu’s birthday during lockdown. The film shows a middle-class family trying to celebrate their six-year-old child’s birthday while tackling the war-like situation in Iraq.
Birthdays during lockdown has become a common thing now. Kids are always excited to celebrate their birthdays at home in the presence of their friends and family. Chintu Ka Birthday was screened in 2019 at Jagran Film festival and nobody knew that it would become a real story after a few months. The story is not completely fictitious and is set in 2004 in the war-torn country Iraq.
The length of the film is one hour and 23 minutes and the makers do not waste time narrating the story. We see two loving parents played by Vinay Pathak and Tillotama Shome. Chintu, played by Vedant Raj Chibber is the narrator of the story and narrates the backstory of their landing in Iraq and now stuck in the area due to George Bush and Saddam Hussein.
Chintu blames president Bush for not letting him celebrate his birthday but his parents especially the father tries to fulfill his son’s wishes. A lavish birthday with delicious cake is too much to ask but not for the father. He makes sure that Chintu cuts his birthday cake. The movie is supported by Seema Pahwa as Tillotama’s mother and Lakshmi by Bisha Chaturvedi.
Seema keeps on taunting her son-in-law for making them stuck there but the daughter defends her father and tells her granny to pay attention to major situations. The family resides in a rented house owned by an Iraqi called Khalid Massou. He is a very affectionate person who considers Chintu’s family as his own as he lost his family and visits the house to celebrate Chintu’s birthday.
There are many moments that will make you curious to decide whether Chintu’s birthday will be celebrated or not. There are many moments that are socially relevant today in terms of humanity. Two Americans enter the house and take them hostage. The attitudes of both individuals are completely different. One wants to rip off the family while the other does not want any such thing.
Even after being held as hostage, the young kids do not care about the situation. They have come to celebrate Chintu’s birthday which shows the friendship between them. One of the kids talks to the soldier and screams Yalla Yalla America like it is nothing. This also leads to a troublesome situation.
The movie is something we should watch now as humanity is being questioned across the globe. The film will take you in a recap which shows what has happened in the world since the year commenced. The film shows the hopefulness of family who will be returning home to celebrate the birthday of their loved ones. The film should not be missed and invites undivided attention. It comes with the message that “This too shall pass!”.
