Sir (2018)

Directed by: Rohena Gera | 96 minutes | drama | Actors: Ahmareen Anjum, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Tillotama Shome, Rahul Vohra

Is there a place in the world where there are no lonely souls? If we are to believe the international co-production ‘Sir’, it is certainly not Indian Mumbai. There we meet Ratna, a young widow who has been sent from her village to metropolis Mumbai to serve in the household of the wealthy Ashwin. Ashwin, invariably addressed by Ratna as ‘sir’, has returned to India after a long stay in America to get married and work in his father’s company. But the wedding is called off and Ashwin is left alone with his faithful servant. Two lonely souls.

Like her male protagonist, director Rohena Gera studied in America for a while. There the director must have picked up something of the American ideal of social and societal mobility, of the paperboy who becomes a millionaire, the factory girl who marries the director. In any case, that influence seems to be visible in the story of ‘Sir’. Young Ratna does not resign herself to her fate and tries to climb up society, from waitress to fashion designer. Ashwin also seems to opt for a non-conformist existence, an existence in which Ratna plays an important role.

The makers have not fallen into the trap of indiscriminately transferring an ideal from one culture to another. It soon becomes clear that the remnants of the Indian caste system still leave little room for all-too-American ideals. Change is possible, but everything in its time.

This simultaneously optimistic and realistic story comes to us in a typical western arthouse style. Documentary-like, with slow scenes that seem to be mainly intended for the western arthouse goer. A woman who is ethnically stirring a pan, chopping food and doing her own Indian things. Like a living attraction in an ethnographic museum.

What makes the film especially worth watching is the atmosphere of metropolis Mumbai in all its beauty and ugliness. And then there’s the disarming Ratna, with the right mix of modesty, charm and tenacity that arthouse heroines are so loved for. Which probably says more about our own culture than the Indian one.