Review: Over A Cup of Chai (2024)

Over A Cup of Chai unfolds within the confines of a villa that not just serves as a physical space but as an emotional landscape where memories and unresolved wounds from the past intermingle. Writer-director Anvita Brahmbhatt crafts a gently immersive world, centring around Saira (Ratna Pathak Shah) and her daughter Nitya (Dalai) as they engage in a quiet, everyday act of preparing tea that slowly transforms into a moment of reflection and unspoken reconciliation.

What makes the film stirring is the restraint in its storytelling. It neither announces its emotional stakes with grand flourishes nor does it rely on dramatic tropes. Instead, it builds a delicate atmosphere where weighted dialogues and deep glances are loaded with disabling resentment. The writing deserves special mention for its ability to feel personal without slipping into the sentimental. There’s an economy in the spoken words that respects the viewer’s intelligence. What’s unsaid often holds more meaning than what is spoken aloud. Brahmbhatt’s script captures the tempestuous codes between a mother and daughter, where care is usually cloaked in complaint and love is expressed through confron­tations rather than hugs. She has built her screenplay around exposition, and each revelation lands like another page of an indictment.

In this space, there is no pretence of glorifying motherhood while punishing the women who live it. The male characters are not central. They exist to reflect the emotional journeys of the women. Aryan (Danesh Razvi), Nitya’s calm and emotionally aware boyfriend, represents a generational shift. He is comfortable with vulnerability and makes room for others' feelings. In contrast, Gaurav, Saira’s ex-husband, is more of an absence than a presence. Yet his absence lingers like an emotional wound Saira has never fully recovered from..

Performance-wise, Ratna Pathak Shah brings depth to Saira through her silences, gestures, and barbed comments. She creates a character who is both distant and deeply affected. Dalai, as Nitya, inhabits her role with honesty and gentleness. Her presence invites connection without demanding it, and her vulnerability never feels manufactured. Whereas, Danesh Razvi as Aryan brings a quiet strength to the screen. He plays the supportive partner with restraint and sensitivity, offering emotional steadiness without overshadowing the two women at the centre of the story. Riya Kichher’s cinematography leans into the tactile, the familiar rhythm of daily chores, all of which lend the film a textured naturalism. Shuchi Gupta’s editing is particularly effective in a film that relies heavily on dialogue and rhythm. She allows conversations to breathe, letting pauses linger without losing momentum, and gives each emotional beat the time it needs.

Over A Cup of Chai isn’t interested in resolutions or sudden breakthroughs. Its power lies in its stillness, in allowing two women to occupy space together, to unpack unresolved scars through confrontation and conversation. Sometimes, even a brief exchange can begin to heal wounds carried for years. And sometimes, change arrives not with melodramatic gestures, but with the comfort of shared warmth. After all, when connections fray, the heart speaks in its quiet form of communication.

Over A Cup of Chai was screened at the 25th edition of the New York Indian Film Festival, 2025