Birha: The Journey Back Home(Streaming on JioCinema)
Starring Rajit Kapoor, Manav Vij
Directed by Puneet Prakash
Rating: ***
This 25-minute film set in rural Punjab has a tremendous emotional heft.It is more remarkable for what it doesn’t say in those 25 minutes than what it actually coveys on screen.
Admittedly what we see is not a small hurriedly done film to fill a space in the digital world.This is a well thought-out comprehensive little gem with a heartbreaking twist at the end, which is as (non)lengthy as it should be, no more no less. Other more avaricious players on the digital platform need to learn from the brilliant brevity of director Puneet Prakash’s short story with long legs.He could have made Birha into full-fledged feature film. He choses the short format, as the plot is pitched for abbreviation.
There are only three key dramatic moments in the presentation: one about making tea, the other about a beloved son fleeing the nest and the third, most vital when the son Inder(played with a commendable emotional depth by Manav Vij) suddenly after twenty years of absence returns home to his now spouseless father.
The father-son dialogue,the core of the film, is shot with shots of suppressed anger and erupted pain shooting thought the narrative veins.
This is a profoundly moving portrait of a son’s homecoming which ends on a note of indescribable grief.The shock-ending is not imposed for effect. Nothing is. The components in this intricate but basic family jigsaw fall into place without any stress.
Shooting on actual location in a village in Punjab allows the two-handler the spatial freedom and harmony that would have otherwise been drastically reduced by the claustrophobic nature of the plot. The narrative movement is deliberate and dreamy, and we know at the end why this is so.
The two main actors Rajit Kapoor and Manav Vij, play against one another with a stealthy grace,nobody here is in a race. This a work governed by tragedy. Heartbreak is inevitable. But soundless.
