IFF: Bhonsle

In Mumbai, an aloof policeman is involuntarily retired, leaving him the time to observe the simmering social politics of ethnicity within his tenement.

The pace is considered and unhurried; you can't help noticing crickets chirping in the background, and the first act sets the scene as it plods along. There's a reward for viewer patience, with the tensions around entitlement and belonging building as inexorably as a coming monsoon. The central theme of ethnic pride and the seemingly inevitable racism borne of that is sensitively detailed. It's interesting material with broad relevance to the world's political stage. The strangers who live next door.

Indian Film Festival 2019
120 mins