Nil Battey Sannata

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's 2016 debut feature takes place in the cramped houses in the shadow of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Chanda, thirty-five and working as a domestic help, wants her daughter Appu to study and build a better life; when Appu says she wants to quit school and become a maid like her mother, Chanda enrols in the same class and starts studying alongside her. The premise sounds absurd, but the film does not turn it into emotional blackmail. Swara Bhasker's performance carries the character's shame and her determination at once, while Ratna Pathak Shah's headmaster supplies the humour. The most honest thing in the film is showing that moving between classes is not simply a matter of hard work: what stands in Appu's way is not ability but resources. The story still ends somewhere hopeful. Who it's for: viewers interested in Indian independent cinema, films about mothers and daughters, and the theme of education. Who it's not for: anyone bothered by an emotional resolution that arrives too neatly, or who will find the idea of individual effort overcoming class critique-worthy.