Opening Night Film: Chumbak

2018 | India |104 Minutes | Drama/Coming of Age

Fifteen-year-old Mumbai resident Baalu dreams of escaping his wretched life as a busboy by starting a small business of his own. Having exhausted all means, a desperate and broke Baalu and his street-smart friend Dhananjay (a.k.a Disco) make a plan to put together the money with the only way they can think of - the infamous “Nigerian SMS Scam.” However of the hundreds expected to respond to his text messages, none but one man falls for it: the intellectually disabled, poor villager Prasanna. Baalu becomes caught between his guilt of stealing from this marginalized man and his own drive to fulfill his ambitions, and he finds that he must reexamine his life choices and decide what kind of man he wants to become. Anchored by the sensitive performances from Swanand Kirkire and Sahil Jadhav, Chumbak relies on its simple concept and brilliant execution to explore what it means to be human in the modern world.