Fatakra

Samrat Chakrabarti (Naveen) & Meena Serendib [Photo courtesy of www.sohammehta.com.]

By Shannon J. Effinger

Fatakra, a new short film from writer/director Soham Mehta, is a story about the sacrifices one makes in order to secure his family’s future. Naveen (Samrat Chakrabarti) goes off to America leaving both his wife (Meena Serendib) and son (Ritik Goyal) behind in India. He assumes that the separation from his family would last for only a few months. But with the onslaught of the recession, a few short months turns into three long years.

In fact, the story begins on their first day reunited as a family. Naveen’s future in America is still unsettled and his wife and son are both shocked and disappointed to arrive at his motel room, their new temporary home. There’s not only a great deal of tension between Naveen and his wife, but also a good amount of strain between him and his son. And the “sparks” go off, hence the title of the film which means “firecracker” in the Gujarati language. How will Naveen begin to repair the once tight bond he had with his family?

In Fatakra, there are universal themes (love, family, struggling in today’s economy) that will surely resonate with an audience. But Mehta also infuses aspects of traditional Indian culture into the film, making it much more personal. For example, he cleverly weaves the story of the great archer Arjuna, from the ancient Hindu epic The Mahabharata, into the bedtime stories that Naveen would often tell his young son. Mehta’s short film Fatakra speaks volumes about what is most valuable even during hard times.

Fatakra was an official selection of the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. To learn more about Fatakra and where it will be showing next near you, visit http://www.sohammehta.com/.