Adam J. Graves’s short film Anuja is a touching drama about two orphaned sisters trying to make the best of life despite their deprived situation. Graves stings us with hard doses of reality throughout while allowing the playfulness of a child to shine a beacon of hope onto us—a fabulous film.
When precocious nine-year-old Anuja (Sajda Pathan), who works in a back-alley garment factory, is suddenly offered a rare chance to attend boarding school, she faces a choice that will determine her fate.
Anuja takes the typical story of a strong familial bond challenged by adversity, giving one extra impossible decision for one to make, and makes it feel wonderfully fresh. The dilemmas in such circumstances can really get the audience compelled, and writer-director Adam J. Graves does some tremendous work absorbing his audience into Anuja and Palak’s story. These two sisters, who for all intents and purposes should be emotionally and even mentally down and out, refuse to succumb. Despite the ridiculously hard circumstances for two girls so young, they show remarkable resilience.
As mentioned, Graves does not stop his film from having those moments of light-hearted playfulness that childhood has for everyone, despite the two sisters living a difficult and frankly unimaginable life of 14-hour work days and sleeping on hard floors in tiny upstairs huts. Their love for one another shines through, and with that comes happiness. They could wallow in their situation, but they seemingly take it in their stride. Anuja is bright, but Palak is also highly skilled in her own way, and Graves allows the hope we hold for both of them to remain throughout the film.
However, when Graves wants to bring us back to the reality that Anuja and Palak live in, he does so thanks to Mr Verma, who is downright hateful. You can’t help but hate him; he could let Anuja go off and try for that school, but he needs a worker, even if he illegally has her working. So when he realises her talents, he presents our lead with a decision that sinks your heart. It’s great work from Graves to structure his film this way, and with Bhonsle, he has an able villain for the audience to feel venom for.
In the scenes where the two sisters are having a whale of a time after selling some of Palak’s handmade bags. They venture off to have as much fun as possible, filled with food, laughs, and even time for a film. You could see this as Palak trying to give her sister one last great day together before she goes to take her test for the boarding school. To remember the good times, which, yes, brings a solemn tone to the moment but also fills us with some hope that her efforts are worth it.
Additionally, it’s a small thing, but it isn’t just the maths that Anuja is quick with. Her sister wants to sell the bags for a specific price, but Anuja sees the value in Palak’s work, so when she tries to sell the bags around the city, she ups the price tenfold because she knows they will sell. These little touches to the characters make the overall film really shine and show the work that Graves has gone to to provide us with such a fulfilling and interesting story.
One of the other highlights of the film is the melodic score from Fabrizio Mancinelli, which really makes the tones of the film pour out on screen. It’s delicate work that Mancinelli does here that works terrifically well to make us feel as much as possible for the characters.
Hope and love are powerful forces in this world. We need more of it, and Anuja is a testament to that. We have characters who should be broken, but are not. They are still going, wanting the best for each other and ideally for both of them. It’s a rare thing and Graves and his two leads in Sadja Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag deliver incredible performances that have you rooting that this time out, no matter what the final decision is, both girls succeed. This is a great short film that shows all of the strengths Graves has as a filmmaker, instilling in us a sense of optimism and hope for the future.
At the end of Anuja, we see the inspiration for Graves as lead Sajda Pathan herself was rescued from the streets of Dehli by the Salaam Baalak Trust. A charity that has supported over 144,966 children since 1988. Providing help, be it shelter, meals, education, medical support or even being reunited with their family. Its an incredibly touching story on its own and with hope Anuja will assist in highlighting the magnificent work they do, to provide children opportunities and to live a life they deserve. The film’s potential to raise awareness and support for such causes is significant and inspiring.
You can support the charity here.
★★★★
Anuja will be playing at the HollyShorts Film Festival on August 15th. Tickets and further information is available here.
For more of our coverage of the HollyShorts Film Festival, please check out our reviews below.
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