**Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Yashpal Sharma, Brinda Karat, Ankur Khanna
Director: Shonali Bose
Year: 2005
Country: India, USA
Language: Bengali, English, Hindi, Punjabi
Approximate Running Time: 1hr 52mins
This directorial debut by Shonali Bose follows a young Indian-American woman Kaju (Konkona Sen Gupta) as she explores her roots in India, with the backdrop of Indian politics and social events that happened in 1984 following then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.
After graduating from college in LA, Kaju decides to take a break and comes to New Delhi to spend some time with her relatives that include her uncle, cousin and grandma, among others. She is instantly captivated by the sights and sounds on the streets of India, and records it all with her handy camcorder as she asks her uncle to stop the car by the side. She notices a gurudwara (Sikh temple) in the background which causes her some inexplicable unease. While she was born in India, her parents had died in a malaria epidemic that swept the village, and she was adopted when young and grew up in the US.
After some initial friction, she befriends Kabir (Ankur Khanna) - her cousin's college-mate who is the only son of a rich and influential bureaucrat. With Ankur as her guide, Kaju starts exploring New Delhi, and also meets Govind (Yashpal Sharma) who runs a roadside diner. While visiting Govind and his family in a slum, she experiences déjà vu and sets out to discover the truth about her biological parents. She doesn't get any help from her mom (Brinda Karat) and rest of her relatives act mysteriously around her, without giving her any straight answers. A death certificate in her grandpa's locked trunk (which she breaks into) provides her a clue to the identity of her mom. After a false start, secrets are revealed from an unlikely source, and she finally learns about the terrible events of 1984 when thousands of Sikhs were murdered by angry mobs, with the bureaucrats, politicians and others complicit not only in the pogrom but the subsequent cover-up and the denial of justice. The trail leads her to an alcoholic auto-driver who was a participant in the shameful acts. Could he be her biological father?
The movie tries very hard to create some suspense, and it may work for those who are unfamiliar with the tragic events of 1984, but when the truth is finally revealed in a clichéd scene, it doesn't come as a surprise. Except for Yashpal Sharma and Konkona Sen Sharma - who is brilliant and carries the movie on her shoulders - the acting by rest of the cast is pedestrian. It's hard to fathom why Kaju's mom couldn't simply reveal the truth much earlier instead of creating this aura of mystery around it. The plot is simply a peg to hang the coat of shame that is the Indian law-and-order system, denying justice even today to thousands of Sikhs who lost their innocent loved ones, and to show the bravery of some who risked their own lives to save those of Sikhs. So it is a story that needs to be told and Shonali's passion for the subject matter comes through clearly, but as a film it leaves much to be desired.
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