CiNEmatters by Firstpost: Episode 5 — 'Appa'

CiNEmatters

Host: Arshia Dhar

Theme Music and Editing: Sourjyo Sinha

Artwork: Adrija Ghosh

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Episode 5: Appa (2019)

Language/Region: Nepali/North Bengal

Director: Anmol Gurung

Cast: Dayahang Rai, Siddhant Raj Tamang, Allona Kabo Lepcha, Tulsi Ghimire, Aruna Karki

In the fifth episode of CiNEmatters, we shine the spotlight on Anmol Gurung's 2019 film Appa, a story of an unlikely father-son duo who come to terms with their difficult circumstances after an accident thrusts their lives into absolute disarray.

The father — a Nepali guide named Birkhey living in Kalimpong (played by Dayahang Rai) — and his son Siddharth (played by Siddhant Raj Tamang) are not related by blood. While ferrying a Bengali family to Sandakphu in his vehicle, Birkhey's alcoholism leads him to drive off a cliff, quite literally, as they tumble down a slope, thereby leaving no survivors barring Birkhey and the four-year-old child of the family.

Upon his recovery, Birkhey pleads with the local priest — under whose watchful eyes young Siddharth was being nursed — to let him adopt the child over feelings of guilt and love for the boy. The priest agrees, however, on the condition that Birkhey would be barred from meeting Siddharth until he has completed his education from the residential school run by him.

This decision estranges the pair for over a decade, until they reunite years later to resurfacing wounds and traumas of lost lives, opportunities, and 'could-have-beens'.

In this episode, we are joined by Kaustubh Deka — professor of political science at Assam's Dibrugarh University — as we analyse how efficiently, and rather unselfconsciously, Appa reveals the patriarchal hierarchies framing the social and cultural structures of its premise. It also sheds light on alternative definitions of 'family' that go beyond the heteronormative.

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