Sons and Fathers
Ghich Pich | Director: Ankur Singla | Cast: Nitesh Pandey, Kabir Nanda, Satyajit Sharma, Aryan Singh Rana | Hindi
THEY DON'T ALWAYS get much cinematic time in Hindi movies. Awaara (1951), Udaan (2010) and Animal (2023) are a few examples of this neglected genre of sons and fathers. Ghich Pich in its simple story of three friends and their families is an honourable exception. When fathers want to live their ambitions through their sons, when they are worried about what people will think or if they live a life of lies, what does it do to their children? Ankur Singla's Chandigarh of the 1990s is simple enough. One father wants his son to get to the inner orbit of power by getting into SRCC (Shri Ram College of Commerce) and exiting a life of mediocrity. Another father cannot understand his son's decision to cut his hair, especially when it goes against their faith. And yet another has trouble explaining the truth of his sexuality. The fathers are not unfeeling caricatures but flesh and blood characters who bleed when they have to scold their sons. The mothers are stoic, unbending, loving but fearful. The teachers are short-tempered, the adults are distracted and the youngsters have no one to turn to, not even Google, as its the '90s. It is a coming-of-age story told with grace and dignity.
