Jyoti Kapur Das’s 15-minute short film Chutney will go down well with fans of Roald Dahl. We are in the same territory of twisted characters and plot twists. A plain and submissive housewife from Ghaziabad (Tisca Chopra) realises that her husband (Adil Hussain) is cheating on her, and calls the girlfriend (Rasika Dugal) over for a pakora-and-chutney meal. The wife begins to tell the other woman a story, one that demands careful listening. The set-up is geared towards an expected rug-puller, but when it comes, it is well done. (There is at least one unexplained part of the puzzle, though).
The atmosphere of creeping dread is expertly handled, while the acting is top-notch, as is to be expected from Rasika Dugal and Adil Hussain. The scene-stealer is Tisca Chopra, near unrecognisable with make-up and false teeth. Chopra has produced the film and co-written the screenplay along with Das and Avaneesh Mishra. Chutney is available on the Large Short Films YouTube channel.
