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Of A Film

holding it all in. The cloudburst can happen any time.

It’s the sunshine that director Dhaimade and his astounding cinematographer Harendra Singh focus on, but never at the cost of the darkness that lies beneath. The overbridge on which we first meet the five protagonists could be the ill-fated venue of tragedy that happened on Elphinstone Road in Mumbai recently. There are no traces of crisis where our heroes first appear. But then this is Mumbai. Everything changes in a jiffy.

It is this mix of mirth and melancholy that makes Tu Hai Mera Sunday one of the most precious slice-of-life films in recent times.

Tu Hai Mera Sunday

STARRING: Barun Sobti, Shahana Goswami, Avinash Tiwari, Rasika Dugal, Nakul Bhalla, Pallavi Batra, Vishal Malhotra, Jay Upadhyay and Shiv Subramaniam

WRITER-DIRECTOR: Milind Dhaimade

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Once in a while in my career as a movie fanatic, I come across a sparkling gem that reminds me there’s still so much to see, so many places to go, for Indian cinema. First-time feature filmmaker Milind Dhaimade takes us into places where we all have visited at one time or another.

And I don’t mean only Mumbai, which like many memorable films stands a silent hero in this film about unsung heroism. Dhaimade takes us to places in the heart where we go quite often in seclusion but don’t really wish anyone else to know. The oddly titled Tu Hai Mera Sunday is about working class yearnings, crushed dreams and smothered aspirations floating to the surface to confront the characters even as they conform to the stagnating status quo, loath to swim against the tide.

Some of the major characters, and there are so many of them all so vivid and relatable even in the briefest of roles, have serious meltdowns in unexpected moments. And if the others don’t break down, we know they are

The core theme is the five protagonists’ search for space to play their Sunday football game, an event that centralizes their scattered lives.

Among this gem’s many virtues, the one quality that gives it an absolute stand-out stamp are the performances. I don’t think I’ve seen a more accomplished complete and engaging ensemble cast in any film. Taken from theatre and television, these are actors who haven’t acquired the cocky arrogance of stardom. They breathe life into their characters even as the characters suffocate in the cramped polluted environment of Mumbai. Shyam Salgaonkar edits the multitudinous characters and their rapidly mutating