By Firdaus Ali
Zwigato, a film unraveling the travails and tribulations of India’s gig economy, received its world premiere at TIFF 2022 in the ‘Contemporary World Cinema’ section.
Written and directed by the acclaimed Nandita Das, the film is as piquant as its title and comes with raw emotions, tender moments, and funny one-liners amidst the stark reality of India’s struggling middle class.
Das has been celebrated at TIFF over the years, both as an actor and director. She first came to TIFF with Fire in 1996, her debut film as an actor followed by Before the Rains, Grave-Keepers’ Tale, Earth, and her directorial debut film, Firaaq and then Manto.
“TIFF is very inclusive festival appealing to both emerging and female filmmakers. Having come here several times, it feels like home away from home and I definitely feel a great connection to the festival,” adds the director.
With a storied acting career, having worked with filmmakers like Deepa Mehta, Mrinal Sen, and Shyam Benegal, this latest feature finds her exploring new tones and territories in her career behind the lens.
Zwigato has a universally appealing theme, resonating well with TIFF audiences. Set amidst the landscape of urban India, this time the Temple City of Bhubaneshwar, Das sharpens her directorial lens on the highs and low in the life of her protagonist – Manas, a food-app delivery driver, convincingly played by India’s top stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma.
Her sociopolitical gaze remains sharp, but Manas’s story isn’t just a sardonic look at the tight margins of the gig economy — it’s also a reminder that a different life is possible, one where you get to cherish the human moments that matter most. The film is multi-layered, speaking to the gig economy of India and how it intersects with elements of patriarchy, gender disparity, class, caste, and religion.
Brought to you by Applause Entertainment and Nandita Das Initiatives, Zwigato captures what an ‘ordinary’ family faces in the post-pandemic world. It is the story of the relentless struggle of life, but not without shared moments of joy, pain, struggles and triumph.
“Zwigato is not just about India’s gig economy and all the things we normalize with it. It speaks to how the pandemic has impacted men, women, and families and how the ‘so-called saviours’ exploit the vulnerabilities of those most marginalized,” says the director about the precinct of her film.
While Das maintains that films are a mirror to our realities, all her three directorial ventures were extremely different, requiring different cinematic treatment. “Firaaq happened because of how the Gujarat riots impacted me personally. The film spoke about the aftermath of obvious violence and things that linger on and what it does to human relationships. Manto happened due to my belief in what Sadat Hasan Manto stood for. Whether it was freedom of expression, or the stark portrayal of life through his art and through his writings.”
Her third film Zwigato, (named as a cross between two Indian food apps Zomato and Swiggy) is a peek into the lives of the “often unseen people” who are the heart and soul of the nation and its economy.
After losing his job as a factory-floor manager during the pandemic, Manas (Kapil Sharma) becomes a driver for a food-delivery app called Zwigato. With a familiar rectangular backpack, he zips around Bhubaneswar on his motorcycle, steering through another day of inconvenient obstacles and impatient customers.
To help make ends meet, his wife Pratima (Shahana Goswami) applies for a job as cleaning staff at a mall, brushing off the potential hassles of work life for an independent experience outside the home. Manas isn’t pleased, but it isn’t long before the strain of his daily grind begins to take a toll and he’s forced to confront his old-fashioned ideas about being the breadwinner.
Kapil Sharma surprises audiences with his subdued and restrained performance throughout the film.
There is something about his grounded performance that finds droll humour in his stress, constantly flung around the city by the app and its algorithm. The film’s realist style captures an everyday man who begins to see the maddening cycle of star ratings and delivery quotas for the hollow incentives they are, slowly opening up to ideas about workers’ rights and solidarity.
“I had seen a clip of Kapil performing in awards show and felt he would be perfect for the role. Kapil has brought Manas alive with his performance and Shahana has done a great job in playing his supportive wife,” adds Das.
“Sometimes actors are selfish people, but both Kapil and Shahana gave so much of themselves. They are both generous, good-spirited actors who got along well during the filming of Zwigato,” adds Das.
“As a filmmaker, I am not trying to resolve existing problems but bring a certain empathy to my characters and be true to my film’s context. Through all the struggles, especially in a country like India, we need to strive to find hope against hope. To live life to the fullest.” While the film has an almost euphoric ending, it teaches how life swiftly changes, once you start cherishing moments that matter the most.
Zwigato helps you do just that. And more!