Chintu Ka Birthday (2020)

The film tells the story of 6-year-old boy named Chintu, stuck in Iraq with family at the times of Saddam’s fall. It is April 2004. US-led allied forces have been in Iraq for a year now. All Indians have been brought home, so says the Indian government. But there are those who migrated to Iraq illegally, still waiting to find a way out. On the day of this story, one such family prepares to celebrate the 6th birthday of their youngest member, Chintu. Their kind-hearted Iraqi landlord Mehdi lends them a helping hand.

They have to deal with a lot of issues like they don’t find a cake, the old cranky oven doesn’t work, issues with decoration, gifts, etc. However, the family has resolved to celebrate his birthday come what may. Waheed, a school friend of Chintu, smuggles drugs & CDs for American soldier and also Jihadi material. He had earlier given Chintu some of his CDs of Jihadi material as well which his parents don’t approve of.

Suddenly there is a bomb blast and Mehdi is scared and starts looking out of the house desperately. He requests Chintu’s family to hide him, which they approve and he hides in the storeroom. Later, two American soldiers, Louis and Reed enter their home to search for the suspects of the bomb blast. Louis is experienced, while Reed has recently arrived at Iraq. Chintu’s father Madan, acts normal and calms the situation. The soldiers are satisfied and about to leave when Mehdi screams because of the rats in the storeroom. The soldier quickly pulls him out and detain both of them. The situation suddenly becomes tense. The soldiers request a convoy to take the detainees, but they are informed that the coast is not clear for the convoy. Later, Waheed and a girl arrive for the birthday party. It turns out that Waheed knows Louis and there is an exchange of banter. Mehdi takes advantage of this distraction & escapes from there. Louis chases him, while Reed stays put. Later the radio contact is lost between the two.

Starring: Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, Seema Pahwa, Bisha Chaturvedi, Vedant Chibber, Reginald L. Barnes, Nate Scholz,

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