Ankur Singal’s Ghich Pich explores a dynamic as vexed as it is familiar: the relationship between fathers and their young sons. Singal’s debut feature, which is out in cinemas, revolves around three teenagers navigating love, academics and personal identity.
The Hindi-Punjabi film is set in Chandigarh in 2001. We’re in the age of blank calls over fixed landlines and love letters written in fake blood. Boys on the verge of becoming men find their paths blocked by the men in their lives.
Anurag (Aryan Rana) is being pushed by his hard-driving father Naresh (Satyajit Sharma) to excel at his studies. Naresh keeps hectoring Anurag on the importance of personal sacrifice, harsh advice that Anurag struggles to process.
Sikh teenager Gurpreet (Kabir Nanda) has fallen for the non-Sikh Ashima (Mia Magar). Gurpreet comes to believe that Ashima will reciprocate his feelings if he cuts off his hair and stops wearing a turban – an idea that saddens his devout father Lakhpal (Nishan Cheema).
Gaurav (Shhivam Kakar) seems to have the most stable equation with his father Rakesh (Nitesh Pandey) until he stumbles upon Rakesh’s secret. Gaurav goes into a funk, much to Rakesh’s distress.
Ghich Pich – the title suggests the emotional logjam experienced by its characters – strikes a balance between individual freedom and traditional values. A heavily saturated colour palette adds a tinge of nostalgia to the proceedings. Although Chandigarh’s vistas and landmarks are in the background, there’s little to root in the story in this particular city.
Without anything earth-shatteringly different to add to the typical coming-of-age story, and lacking the raw honesty of Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan (2010) – a clear influence – Ghich Pich ambles along pleasantly. The performances are heartfelt, especially by the young actors.
Singla’s episodic screenplay devotes equal time to each of the three sub-plots, an approach that does Gaurav’s track the most disservice. The resolution of Gaurav’s problem is too pat, just as the other two dilemmas are resolved too easily.
