In a narrative comprised of two storylines, “Saving Chintu” aspires to cover quite a wide range of topics. In its center stand prejudice against the LGBTQ+ people and prejudice against the HIV-positive people. Moreover, it touches couples' issues, racial prejudice, the state of health care, or corruption. We get to follow a gay couple, Sam and Oliver, who decided to adopt HIV-positive orphan Chintu. They live in the states, Chintu in Sam's hometown in India. Their story interweaves with a secondary subplot about an Indian doctor and his wife who are deciding on adoption too.
“Saving Chintu” is reviewed within the Submit Your Film initiative.
With the moment getting closer, the tension between Sam and Oliver rises. Despite Sam mocks Oliver for asking about the availability of towels in India, he takes some preventive measures. Because he assumes the Indian adoption officer might not be eager to sign the papers for two fathers, he comes with a backup plan. This involves his old friend Mira and fake marriage.
Both storylines are glimpse-based. But while the latter constitutes a mosaic of everyday life of its protagonist, the adoption line doesn't let you connect with the couple. The repeating frictions between Sam and Oliver break up their story, push aside the intimacy, and hinder any connection with them as dads-to-be. In the end, it seems the main challenges in the adoption process might not be the rules and views of the outside world, but the lack of communication between the two. This becomes palpable as we watch the harmony in the doctor's home. Moreover, the uneven direction, acting, and the different stylistic approaches only intensify it.
As the script wants to cover one side too many, it loses grip. The conflicts between Sam and Oliver, as well as the caricature-like vilification of the adoption officer, mess up the flow of the narrative. However real life-inspired they might be, they just don't work for the story. Contrary, they disrupt it, while leading nowhere. This especially stands out when compared with the doctor's line. If the objective was to compare the levels of stress when the adoptive parents are a gay couple in a society that still holds biases and when they are a perfect husband and wife, the idea is undermined by the final twist. And the twist itself carries an important message.
“Saving Chintu” brings up important topics. Topics that both stir the waters and don't get the attention they need and deserve. And not only in India. Yet, their portrayal in the film tends to succumb to oversimplified shortcuts that diffuse the focus.
