Shalini Shah, a National Award-winning director, is preparing to premiere her feature film ‘Samosa and Sons’ on the OTT platform. The film includes performers such as Brijendra Kala, Neha Garg, Jeetu Shashtri, Meera Suyal, Rachna Bisht, and Minal Sah, among others. The film was shot during the pandemic while adhering to all Covid regulations. Sanjay Mishra stated of the film, “Last year we were all in the midst of a pandemic and the situation was extremely dire at the moment; we didn’t know what would happen in the future, but slowly and surely things started to streamline.”
The title ‘Samosa and Sons’ refers to an ordinary Indian man’s insatiable desire for a son, as well as the age-old patriarchal indoctrination that underpins it. The video exposes the challenges confronting Indian society and sends a serious message that no matter how contemporary your views are, there are some elements that connect you. “Light and fun in tone, ‘Samosa and Sons’ is a satire on our society’s hypocrisy that tries to disguise the yearning for a son, but fails,” director Shalini Shah remarked of the film. Deepak Tiruwa wrote the script for the film.
Shalini received a National Award for her documentary ‘From the Land of Buddhism to the Land of Buddha.’ “The situational humour provides the appropriate tone to talk about the fundamental patriarchal indoctrination in all of us,” she continues. “The ghost part is hilarious and no better candidate than Sanjay Mishra,” she stated of Sanjay Mishra’s acting abilities.
Set in a picturesque hill village in Uttarakhand, the film follows the life of Chandan Koranga, a subservient samosa shop owner (Chandan Bisht). Every night, Chandan encounters his dead father’s ghost (Sanjay Mishra), who brainwashes him into badly desiring a son. Chandan, the father of a seven-year-old child, is afraid to communicate his father’s ghost’s desires with his far more progressive wife Dhwani. The major theme of the novel is whether Chandan will realise that it is not a ghost but his own subconscious, conditioned by years of patriarchy, that is dictating his ideas and deeds.
