Auntyji review: Shabana Azmi, Anmol Rodriguez are the pillars that hold together this charming short film

The history of human artistic endeavour is strewn with numerous examples of noble intention let down by poor execution. Awed by the urgency and significance of the material at hand, driven by the desire to deliver the message as forcefully as possible, the creators often fail to bring the set of tools apposite to the task. Such is the case with Auntyji, a short film starring the magisterial Shabana Azmi and a charming, young Anmol Rodriguez. One can hardly doubt the earnestness that underlies this production. But the moment the camera veers away from Azmi and Rodriguez, the film threatens to capsize under the weight of its intent. Early on in the film, Azmi and Rodriguez run into each other on a day when they are about to make new beginnings. A moment of kindness brings them closer to each other in a world inhabited by people intent upon categorising them by either their appearance or their age. Stepping out of their comfort zone was never going to be easy. Our protagonists are cognizant of the prejudice awaiting them. But when its enormity threatens them, they need to rely upon each other to surmount their respective fears. [caption id=“attachment_5102591” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Shabana Azmi in a still from Auntyji. Image from Youtube.[/caption] Azmi and Rodriguez are the two strong pillars that uphold the film. Whenever they are in the frame, and especially when they’re together, the film lights up, notwithstanding the tepid writing. Azmi imbues her character of an old, Parsi woman with just the right flavour of mischief. Rodriguez, on the other hand, is a strange mixture of timidity and inner strength, swaying between the two with innate charm. Sadly, they are surrounded by cardboard characters seemingly out of a puppet shop. They mouth their lines with negligible intent and wander in and out of frame as if pushed and pulled by an invisible hand. The subtlety that Azmi, in particular, brings to the film dissipates the moment the secondary characters come into the picture. Frankly, apart from the central performances, almost everything else about the film is either workmanlike or droll. One can understand, for instance, the director’s attempt to depict the suffocating uniformity rampant in corporate culture. Or the manner in which it can uproot the outlier. But this passage is written with an unusually heavy hand, particularly for an office environment where jibes and below the belt stuff is delivered with debilitating artfulness. Essentially, one can hardly find fault with the fim’s ideas. It’s the expression which considerably injures its impact. The creators deserve credit for choosing two outliers usually ignored by film for their protagonists. That these characters step courageously into uncharted territories is laudable indeed. But the consideration the director gives to the doubts that assail them on their endeavours impressed this reviewer most of all. In not caving in front of their fears despite their magnitude, relying on each other’s strengths to steady the ship, Azmi and Rodriguez’s characters awaken to full life. It is a most human message, perhaps the oldest of them all, from back when the first homo sapiens headed out of the caves and into the terrifying dark. Some of them returned bruised and battered, others never returned at all. This went on for years until one day they discovered fire. Auntyji’s protagonists help each other discover that spark within themselves. Never short of ideas but so often let down by the way they are executed, Auntyji, despite the spoonfeeding it falls prey to, should be watched for its intent and luminous protagonists. It wants you to choose light over darkness, and its protagonists don’t want to shout in order to be heard. Choose empathy, it wishes to say. Only it erects a hoarding where a gentle whisper would have done. Watch the film here.