At one point in Rishi Chandna’s Tungrus, we see the elder son of the Bharde family, say ‘now that he’s grown up, he doesn’t like me too much’. He isn’t talking about a nephew or a distant cousin. Or even a pet dog. He’s talking about their pet rooster. A chick his father bought for as little as 10 bucks in the by-lanes of Bandra. Six months have passed and now as a full-sized rooster, it is raising hell at home. Tormenting the two cats – Ginger and Garlic, the rooster doesn’t think twice before leaving a trail of its excrement in the apartment, every other hour.
Chandna’s short documentary, that just won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Slamdance festival, is equal parts demented and an insightful case study of just another middle-class Indian family. The patriarch of the family is this two-paced and eccentric middle-aged man. Having grown up around roosters in a village, the man thinks a chick would be a great ‘toy’ for his pet cats. The man’s wife, Mrs Bharde, stoically mentions that anything brought by her husband ends up being her responsibility.
We see a flustered Mr Bharde trying to read the newspaper, as the rooster flies by. Apparently, someone who can sleep through loud street celebrations and firecrackers, Mr Bharde’s living room naps are interrupted by the rooster, flapping its wings near his face and taking him by surprise. But he also speaks about how much he enjoys chasing it – with the added challenge that it tends to become air-borne during some instances. He calls the rooster a member of the family, just like the pet cats.
The younger son of the house, doesn’t see any ‘value’ in having a pet rooster. But he’s also concerned about the rooster being fed chicken sometimes, which some might consider ‘forced cannibalism’. The elder son of the family rues how the rooster doesn’t recognise him anymore.
Both sons of the Bharde household are equally amused and exasperated by their father’s eccentricity. Especially the ‘duplicate kind’ who crows through different parts of the day, and not just in the early morning. But by now, everyone has come to care about him. Everyone, except Mr Bharde, who now plans to kill him. They’re all non-vegetarians in the Bharde household, but having lived with a pet rooster for the last few months, they cannot bring themselves to eat it. This convenient morality, when it comes to animals, turns out to be the most fascinating idea at the core of Chandna’s documentary.
While the sons ask their father to give up the rooster for adoption, their father is hell-bent on slaughtering his ‘family member’ and feeding on it. He has raised it, after all. Mr Bharde is convinced that as soon as he gives the rooster for adoption, it will be slaughtered. Then why not kill it himself? Mrs Bharde quietly bemoans nature, where a rooster’s time must come too. Especially, when it’s raised within the confines of a cramped, suburban apartment in Mumbai.
The story behind the name of the short documentary, Tungrus, is fascinating too. Chandna’s film revels in the conflicting emotions between the family members and the many emotions within themselves. He doesn’t miss a chance to quietly absorb the sheer absurdity of the situation.
You can watch Rishi Chandna’s Tungrus by clicking here.
