Chhichhore

Raghav, who threw himself from a building after failing his university entrance exam, is in intensive care. The doctors say he has no will to live. His father Anni starts telling him about his own university years: they were in the worst hostel block, everyone called them losers, and they finished last in the sports tournament. The film is not interested in nostalgia. It is interested in the fact that nobody teaches failure: it takes direct aim at exam pressure in India, and the story the father tells does not end in a victory either. The point is not winning but continuing after you lose. The form runs on two timelines: hospital corridors interwoven with hostel life in the nineties. The actors play both their young and middle-aged selves, with makeup carrying the transition. Nitesh Tiwari directed; he had made Dangal before this. On a budget of 50 crore the film took around 215 crore and won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Film. Sushant Singh Rajput plays Anni and Shraddha Kapoor plays Maya. It is among the last films released in Rajput's lifetime. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian youth comedy and stories about exam pressure. Who it is not for: anyone sensitive about suicide. The film is built on it from the opening, and the shifts between humour and grave subject are bumpy at times.