Explaining the way India’s exhibition sector is set, Nalin told HT that India can be very strict on films that are without any star, studio or streamer. “The exhibition sector always underestimates the Indian audience, and the year 2022 has been a great proof of the same. I have always believed that the audience is smarter than the filmmaker, if given an opportunity to watch films like Chhelo Show goes, they’ll embrace it.” — but the film should come to a theater near them,” he was quoted as saying.
Nevertheless, Nalin is overjoyed that his lesser-known film has been shortlisted by the Academy’s panel of judges, despite minimal screening time in Indian theatres. The film premiered at the 20th Tribeca Film Festival on June 10, 2021, and was theatrically released in India on October 14, 2022.
The Chhelo Show is making a splash overseas, however the tragedy is that certain Indian films, in this case a Gujarati film, need to be recognized internationally before the audience can sit down and go back home. The film stars child and adult actors in lead and pivotal roles, including Bhavin Rabari, Bhavesh Shrimali, Richa Meena, Deepen Rawal and Paresh Mehta. It is a coming-of-age drama that chronicles a kid’s obsession with watching movies from the projection booth of a rundown movie place over the course of an entire summer. What follows is heartbreak and a rollercoaster sequence of events, once her conservative parents realize what she and her friends are doing when they should be doing more meaningful things. Despite this, the films he watches inspire the boy to become a future filmmaker.
The director states that it is a simple film with “pure entertainment” and “top-notch production quality” and has struck a chord with audiences and the Oscars panel of judges. It is a film about hope in the face of difficult challenges and dark times.