Palak
and
Anuja
endear
us
to
their
bittersweet
world,
observes
Sukanya
Verma.
Anuja
begins
with
a
girl
telling
her
tween
sibling
a
Panchatantra
story
about
how
a
faithful
mongoose
saved
a
farmer’s
child
from
a
poisonous
snake
yet
was
mistaken
for
an
attacker
because
of
his
master’s
impetuous
impulses.
Making
a
thoughtful
decision
is
central
to
writer-director
Adams
J
Graves’
Oscar-nominated
live-action
short
film
—
backed
by
the
likes
of
Guneet
Monga,
Mindy
Kaling
and
Priyanka
Chopra
Jones
—
about
a
pair
of
orphaned
sisters
inhabiting
Delhi’s
grimy,
shabby
slums.
But
the
warm
gaze
of
their
luminously
captured
sisterhood
and
slice-of-life-below-poverty
line
also
sees
the
dignity
in
their
spirit
to
overcome
hardships
and
chart
their
own
fairy
tale.
Like
Hansel
and
Gretel,
they
hope
to
make
their
way
out
of
the
darkness
and
come
up
with
ingenious
ways
to
outwit
a
ruthless
world.
Rising
above
a
statistic
of
the
economically
disadvantaged
left
to
fend
for
themselves
by
an
apathetic
system,
Anuja‘s
humane
gaze
sneaks
into
their
personal
interactions
strewn
in
humour
and
humble
aspirations.
Palak
(Ananya
Shanbhag),
the
older
one,
appears
to
be
on
the
brink
of
adulthood
and
has
grown
wiser
beyond
her
years
in
the
absence
of
a
father
and
mother
whose
stories
they
hold
on
to
and
savour
like
candies
in
a
box.
Anuja
(Sajda
Pathan),
somewhere
in
the
range
of
10
passed
off
as
14,
is
a
young
Maths
whiz,
who
is
offered
a
choice
between
an
accounts
assistant
at
the
sweatshop
the
sisters
toil
in
or
a
boarding
school
scholarship.
It’s
a
mild
mannered
depiction
of
a
robbed
childhood
that
pulls
down
its
rose-tinted
glasses
every
now
and
then.
Like
the
boorish
manner
of
Anuja
and
Palak’s
boss,
his
foul
tongue
and
creepy
style
suggest
he’s
both
conceited
towards
and
exploitative
of
his
surroundings.
In
barely
22
minutes,
Palak
and
Anuja
endear
us
to
their
bittersweet
world
and
dreams
that
may
not
always
come
true
yet
feel
breathtakingly
alive
and
triumphant
even
in
their
fleeting
realisation.
Graves
doesn’t
disclose
Anuja’s
choice
but
the
post
credits
alludes
to
an
uplifting
outcome
since
the
child
playing
her
knows
this
story
only
too
well.
Before
the
Non-Profit
Organisation
Salaam
Baalak
Trust
took
her
under
their
wing,
Sajda
Pathan
was
one
of
the
street
kids
engaged
in
child
labour.
Both
she
and
Ananya
are
a
picture
of
disarming
authenticity
and
adorable
chemistry.
They
talk
about
various
things
under
the
sun
(and
their
rundown
roof)
and
the
most
life
affirming
of
them
is
no
matter
how
real
the
struggle
is,
how
uncertain
the
days
ahead,
nobody
can
do
a
darn
thing
about
a
kid’s
smarts.
Anuja
streams
on
Netflix.
Anuja
Review
Rediff
Rating:
