The Weight of Loss

IN CALORIE, HIS 540TH FILM, ANUPAM KHER PLAYS MOHAN SINGH WHO NAVIGATES LOSS, SILENCE, MISUNDERSTANDING, AND BURIED HURT

- Preeti Verma Lal

Sitting under the yellow haze of the hotel's wall lamp, Anupam Kher talks gently about grief, an emotion that is every mortal being's ill-fated companion. Kher acknowledges grief with sincerity. He knows that tragedy never works around a timetable; things get broken, and the anguish of loss is perennial. Grief is palpable, tangible and, sadly, everywhere.

That evening, grief was not a coincidental conversation starter; it lay at the heart of Kher's 540th film Calorie, which had its international premiere at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, in the prestigious Cinema of the World category. Calorie does not borrow grief from imagination; it stems from real-life tragedy and the personal bereavement of Eisha Marjara, the film's writer and director, the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182, which exploded midair killing all 329 passengers. Marjara's mother and younger sister left Montreal for India and were killed on that flight.