Sir

PAST FILM SCREENING

March 20 – 2PM + 7:30PM

India/France, 2018 – Rated: 14A – 99 minutes
Hindi, English, Marathi with English subtitles
Directed by Rohena Gera
Cast: Tillotama Shome, Geetanjali Kulkarni

The fiction-feature debut from writer-director Rohena Gera, Sir uses the charming, intimate story of forbidden attraction between a young widow and her wealthy employer to address the issue of class divide in modern India. Ratna (Tillotama Shome, Monsoon Wedding), a soft-spoken yet ambitious woman who was widowed shortly after her marriage, makes the difficult decision to leave her rural village and head for the skyscrapers of Mumbai in order to provide for her sister back home.

There she takes a job working as a live-in domestic for Ashwin (Vivek Gomber, Court) a wealthy socialite from a family of builders, whose fiancee recently left him for another man. Ashwin seems to have it all while Ratna was raised in poverty — yet their outlooks on life could not be more different. Ashwin, who previously worked as a journalist in New York, contends with family pressures and concerns about social standing while recovering from his heartbreak; Ratna, though resolute and driven, harbours private dreams of becoming a tailor, hiding fabrics and designs in her cubby of the house. As they grow to understand and support each other emotionally, these two people from two different worlds learn to live and love again, together.

Touching and beautifully acted by its two leads, Sir — which elicited buzz after premiering at Cannes in 2018 — is a warm and poignant romance that presents an honest look at social hierarchy. Working with cinematographer Dominique Colin, Gera expertly contrasts the vast Indian countryside with the confines of Ashwin’s apartment, mirroring the economic and class constraints Ratna faces throughout her quest for purpose and freedom.

“A modest yet effective tale of love and class.”
—Jordan Mintzer,
The Hollywood Reporter