Must Watch Alert! “Chintu Ka Birthday” Should Have Been Celebrated on the Big Screen!

Chintu ka Birthday is a reminder, that a film doesn’t have to be overly long or high on budget to be amazing. In its 80 minutes runtime and a space confined to a families’ rented house, Chintu ka Birthday succeeds in delivering certain heartfelt messages and making itself worth your time. The film follows the story of an Indian family, trapped in Iraq during America’s invasion of 2004, trying to celebrate the 6th birthday of their son Chintu.

(Image: © First Draft/Zee5)

The film successfully showcases the daily struggles of civilians in Iraq, which unfortunately continue till this day, and it resonates more among the Indian audiences since it follows the story of an Indian family. We, the privileged people of today, come to realise how difficult it can be to get something as simple as a cake in such situations. How do people still try to be happy in a situation where you don’t even know, who the next bullet might hit or where the next bomb might explode? How difficult it is to lead a life, in which your children’s schools get destroyed and you can’t leave your house without a constant fear of losing your loved ones!

(Image: © First Draft/Zee5)

Coming back to the film, the USP of Chintu Ka Birthday, is its simplistic and endearing appeal which at times also reminded me of 2019’s Jojo Rabbit. The film is sweet and simple during the first 30 minutes of its runtime but highly intense and heart wrenching during the next 30 minutes. The final few minutes generate multiple emotions within the viewers and just like a Disney movie, it breaks your heart but mends it by the time it ends. Another USP of this film is its cast ensemble led by Vinay Pathak (Bheja Fry) and Tillotama Shome (A Death In The Gunj), both of whom delivered solid performances, worth remembering. We could practically feel what Pathak’s Madan Tiwary felt during each moment of the film – the disappointment and guilt of bringing his family to a place like this and the constant effort to keep them happy, while always keeping a big smile on his own face.

(Image: © First Draft/Zee5)

One thing that made the film even more intense and relatable was the fact that it doesn’t travel much and we spend the entirety of the film in Madan’s house (which is the scenario of almost 70% of the world’s population at the moment). But even in such a confined space, we saw a range of characters from Tiwary family and Chintu’s friends to their landlord and two American soldiers who are trapped with them. That brings me to the American soldiers namely, Jackson (the cool one) and Reed (the hot headed one), who face a lot of dilemmas while performing their duties. The film doesn’t try to to take any sides and approaches everything with an open perspective but definitely, an anti-war one.

(Image: © First Draft/Zee5)

Another good thing about the film was its tight script packed with excellent and meaningful dialogues. One of my favorite lines comes from their landlord Madhi, “House head, always woman. We give the world to men and see what they do?!” Aah, I forgot to mention Chintu, played by Vedant Chibber who is so adorable, that every time he weeps in the film, you feel like someone is slowly and steadily piercing your heart!

(Image: © First Draft/Zee5)

Overall, there is nothing that I particularly disliked about this film except that is was a bit predictable. But then again, its a non commercial drama film and not some David Fincher psychological thriller, so we can ignore that. To conclude, I would say that Chintu Ka Birthday is a must watch film, full of powerful dialogues, solid performances, meaningful messages and important life lessons; all of which are showcased in an innocent yet intense manner.