Thursday Special review: Varun Tandon’s short film wins you over with love and a little bit of lie

Thursday Special review: Varun Tandon narrates a nuanced tale where there is love, care and in this case (or maybe most instances), the lie that binds it all together.

Thursday Special Review

Thursday Special plot: Shakuntala looks forward to cooking for her husband’s office potluck lunch every Thursday. Her husband Ram is also appreciative of her fabulous cooking. But the happy Thursday ritual of the elderly couple takes a beating when Shakuntala finds out the truth.

Thursday Special review: There is a certain beauty in capturing the quiet moments of life around us, that somehow do not either come on the big screen of Bollywood these days or are underappreciated when it does. That space now seems to have been taken up and owned by short films, even as the silver screen celebrates the roaring success of the likes of Dhurandhar. After Parambrata Chattopadhyay’s The Pact last week, another delightful short film, Thursday Special, has dropped on YouTube.

Also read: The Pact review: An honest Parambrata Chattopadhyay leads this poignant tale on complex father-son ‘deal’

Noted filmmakers Shoojit Sircar and Vikramaditya Motwane have come on board to present Varun Tandon’s short film, and it is not difficult to see why. Thursday Special carries a warmth yet a mundane melancholy that sets in relationships as the years roll by. Amid this everydayness, Shakunthala wakes up on Thursdays with the delight of doing something worthwhile, whipping up delicacies for her husband’s colleagues and swelling with pride when he comes home full of praise.

The short film opens with reminders scribbled on calendars, as Shakunthala flips the page to find her Thursday special cuisine. The eagerness with which she cooks in her small kitchen is accompanied by Anurag Naidu’s lovely background score, which does elevate and convey her upbeat mood perfectly.

Varun Tandon, a National Award-winning filmmaker, has also penned the story, which narrates the elderly couple’s near lonely existence after losing their daughters. But the happy ritual, which has almost become their lifeline, gets undone by an innocent lie.

The ‘truth’ that Shakunthala stumbles upon threatens to upend everything that she had held on to, but Thursday Special finds new ways for the couple to move on. That quiet healing power that the film imparts is encouraging if not inspiring.

Anubha Fatehpuria plays Shakunthala and her eyes do the talking when she quietly stares Ram down for seeking happiness on his own. Ramakanth Dayama as Ram also perfectly complements her, trying to add dignity to his actions even when there is little room for defence. There are scarcely any other characters, and that, if nothing else, sums up their quiet existence.

Their box-like quarters with pale pink paint, the small, slightly messed-up kitchen, and the roads that take up their lives all have an 'emptiness' attached to them. Cinematographer Yashveer Singh also chooses to keep his frames static as the characters walk by, viewing them from a distance without joining them.

Thursday Special verdict: Varun Tandon narrates a nuanced tale where there is love, care and in this case (or maybe most instances), the lie that binds it all together. And that honest acknowledgement deserves to be watched.

(The Hindi short film Thursday Special is streaming on YouTube.)

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