Pooja Kaul’s The Umesh Chronicles unfolds like a sumptuous feast. The writer-director shows the journey from the flair of youth to the flowering of womanhood as experienced through the eyes of Radha (Aiza Khan). The girl, largely living inside her own head and heart, is solitary yet eclipsed by curiosity and desire to express herself in words that she does not yet have. But being the daughter of a military family, Radha’s childhood is one in constant flux. She and her family are forced to uproot and relocate each time her father (Vivek Gomber) is reassigned to different posts.
Having little time to make lasting friendships, Radha buries herself in reading. Filling her school bag with as many books as she can take home from the library, expanding her knowledge as well as permeating her dreams. She becomes our avatar, guiding us through the world of 1980s India, draped with a painterly touch by cinematographer Jakob Ihre. His palette is a plethora of colors and textures that track the leisurely pace and the simplicity of life during this final gasp of the 20th century. As the days pass, she becomes infatuated with the servant boy, Sundar, whom she studies from a distance.
“Having little time to make lasting friendships, Radha buries herself in reading.”
Soon, the passage of time sweeps across Radha’s world, and we meet her again as a young and enterprising university student (Zayn Marie Khan). Her old world pulls Radha back in when her grandmother dies, forcing her to return home. At the funeral, she is surprised to see the emergence of an equally mature Sundar (Babil Khan). In the hours before the final funeral pyre, Radha and Sundar reminisce without speaking of what is actually on their mind, instead wondering about the backyard, which was their whole world as children. The encounter in the wake of personal tragedy forces Radha to reexamine her life.
Kaul’s direction throughout The Umesh Chronicles is dreamlike, and Aiza Khan and Zayn Marie Khan gift the film with naturally wondrous performances as both the young and more mature Radha. The other noteworthy turn comes from Radha’s wise, comical, and tender grandfather, who is portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan. He plays teacher and foil as well as a rich fountain of love and encouragement as Radha searches for who she is while seeking a path to call her own.
The Umesh Chronicles is a palpable and delicious dive back into a time we all once experienced: childhood. It is a transportive and reflective picture that causes the viewer to take stock of the miraculous and mysterious nature of growing up while also suggesting the idea that our innocence is not something we should lament as something lost, but rather as a grand time we should celebrate having lived through.
"…unfolds like a sumptuous feast."
