Chello Show: Plot and review of the movie nominated from India for Oscar Awards 2022

Selection of the movie “Chhello Show” for Oscar had raised a curiosity among the masses regarding the plot of the movie. However many critics who reviewed the movie didn’t back out from sharing their view points. 

The movie begins with the line "The future belongs to storytellers,"by Fazal tells to Samay the protagonist of Chhello Show. Samay is a 9-year-old boy, entertained his friends with his brilliant storytelling skills, using colourful matchboxes. His fascination for watching movies imputed the desire of becoming a film maker in his mind. However his father has a negative view that cinemas corrupt the minds of people.

Samay’s father took his son to theatres only once to watch a devotional film that built never-ending bond between his son and cinema. Fascinated by the flickering light coming from the projection room Samay gets close to see it. Later he reunites with the projector after a break to hug it. Eventually Samay stole money, lied at home and bunked classes to watch movie. He even gets thrown out of a cinema hall. 

Fortunately he befriends Fazal, the projectionist who worked at the cinema hall and watched films in exchange for the Kathiawadi food prepared by his mother. Chhello Show is set in 2010, India and most other countries replaced 35mm film with digital projection. Beholding the projector machine and the film reels being destroyed in order to recycle them into different things was painful for Samay. 

The moment when Samay’s magical dreams got shattered due to the on-going changes projects the pain of parting from something one deeply loves. The orthodox mindset of Samay’s father gives a look into the myths that is etched in the minds of common people regarding movie. The movie is somehow inspired from its director Pan Nalin’s own life as his father was also sold tea. Nalin also stole reels and befriended a projectionist despite his father was against movies.

The scenes in the movies seem quite real and eye-catching. The movie portrays a poor little kid living a simple village lifestyle with an extraordinary and big dream. Passion and the extent to which a person could go to achieve the object of his interest are beautifully illustrated in the plot. The movie would make you feel intense nostalgia and may take you to the past.