The Flying Trunk review: Memories take flight in this pahari masterpiece
Directed by Siddharth Chauhan, the short film - currently streaming on MUBI - is gentle, emotive and a deeply moving tale of memory and hope
3.5/5
May 25, 2022
The Flying Trunk
STORY: Intrigued by his grandmother’s story of a magical sandook, a young Himachali boy hopes to fly beyond the hills to meet his dead father one day.
REVIEW: A young mountain boy (Arush Thakur) is very curious about a sandook that his grandmother (Zunchi Devi) says, can fly. He now believes that his father and grandfather, who were famous carpenters of their village, one day flew off to a faraway land sitting inside a trunk.
Set in a remote Himalayan hamlet named Kawar, where the road bends in every few steps and the clouds envelope the undulating sylvan hills, writer-director Siddharth Chauhan’s brilliant short film The Flying Trunk (Udiaando Sindook) is mildly meditative too. Just like the kath-khuni houses that dot the small village in the district of Shimla, memories and magic jostle for space as the child endeavours to find out the truth behind the loss of his father and grandfather.
His mother (Divya Tegta) - who divides her time between household chores, plucking apples from trees and sitting at the loom weaving clothes - is worried about her son being tricked by his ‘crazy’ grandmother into believing some mystical story. She is always anxious about his whereabouts and concerned for his upbringing under such circumstances. Deep down though all three of them are struggling to cope with the void created by the deaths in the family. Buried under the burden of moving on in life, they are actually trying to find their own ways to grieve and eventually make peace. In their remote existence marred by seclusion and hardship, the boy pins his hopes on magic and the unseen.
A cinematic masterpiece, The Flying Trunk is like reading a fable, where the visuals speak just as much as the words. The film artfully captures the tenderness of childhood and the little joys of life in far-flung places where amenities are bare minimum. Friendship, mischief and a bit of magic rolled into one, this 14-minute short film is every bit enchanting. A strong storyline and narrative technique make it a good watch. Cinematographer Yashwant Kumar Sharma’s work deserves a special mention.
VERDICT: You’ll love the slowness of The Flying Trunk. It’s gentle, emotive and deeply moving. A story of innocence, loss, myth, faith and memory, the film masterfully explores the life of a rural community. What stays with you are the rustic architectural gems, the verdant sights, and the smells and silences of simple life.
*Reema Gowalla is an arts and culture journalist, who mostly writes about theatre and independent cinema, and sometimes also delves into culinary heritage.
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