CHHICHHORE

Anni (Sushant Singh Rajput) promises his son a celebration when the results of the college entrance exams arrive. It seems predestined: the son will follow in his father’s success. But when the scores aren’t high enough to get Raghav into his top-choice university, the vulnerable teen attempts to end his life. At the hospital, Anni and his ex-wife Maya are told by doctors that their son’s body can only revive if the mind and spirit retain the will to live. So, not knowing if his bed-ridden son can even hear him, Anni pulls up a chair to tell the story he should have told long ago.

It’s a story of being a loser. Of showing up to college feeling misunderstood and unappreciated. Of not-always-successfully navigating the cool kids, the bullies, and the weirdos. And it might just be the most rollicking and heartwarming Indian comedy of the year. When his old college buddies hear that Anni is telling their story to save his son, they fly from around the world to the hospital bed to fill in the juicy details of dorm pranks and how Anni met Raghav’s mother. There’s also an elaborate sports tournament, where even underdogs can seize the opportunity to shine.

Following up his all-time Bollywood box office smash Dangal, director Nitesh Tiwari returns with another sports-filled film about transferring love across generations. Flashing back to campus memories, CHHICHHORE doesn’t luxuriate in nostalgia, but rather finds in the past the vulnerability needed to reassess definitions of success in the present. Ultimately a cautionary tale about parenting, CHHICHHORE’s soaring emotions, tearful sacrifices, big-time laughs, and musical electricity mount a powerful plea to love the losers.

–Brian Hu