Born from the gentle rhythm of a father and daughter’s shared world, Haati Haati Paa Paa graced the screen at the prestigious International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The film received warm and heartfelt acclaim, moving audiences with its emotional depth and sincerity. The performances earned widespread praise, leaving a lasting impression on those in attendance. Directed by Arnab K Middya, the film stars Rukmini Maitra, Chiranjeet Chakraborty, Anjana Basu, and Tulika Basu.
At its heart, Haati Haati Paa Paa is an exploration of the relationship between a young woman and her ageing father. The film delicately examines the complexities, silences, and shifting dynamics within a modern family, illuminating both the challenges and the quiet beauty of caring for one another. A t2 chat with Rukmini...
How’s the response after the screening?
It was an amazing experience... it was a full house. So many people turned up for this show. One thing they kept saying was that movies from Bengal have something special about them. Their story, the way they kind of deal with emotions... there’s always something very special and magical about it. Everyone in the audience loved the film. So many people came up and spoke to me about the film.
Haati Haati Paa Paa is about one universal emotion, which is the relationship between a child and a parent. And I think that is what instantly connected with everyone. They were extremely moved. They laughed, they smiled, they cried with us. The evening was a carnival. I was so overwhelmed by everything.
Did they talk about specific aspects of the movie?
The emotions connected and struck a chord with everyone in the audience. I received a lot of praise for my performance. And a lot of people thought that Chiranjeetda was actually my father in real life!
What aspects of the daughter’s character resonated with you the most when you first read the script?
I was looking for a film on these lines for a while. And you know, a lot of times you manifest. In my last few films, I played larger-than-life characters on screen. Playing a role like this in Haati Haati Paa Paa kind of brought me back home. It felt like homecoming in a way.
It is the quintessential girl next door. And it is one of the most relatable characters that I have ever played on screen. And I think no matter where you belong from, which state of the society, what your background is, whatever it is that you’re going through in life, I think one thing that remains intact is the relationship, especially between a father and daughter.
This is the relationship that I share with my mother today. So many girls have just come and told me that, ‘Oh my God, this is exactly my story.’ I was looking for that relatable factor. Once your parents age, you tend to parent them or you become their parent. I feel that, you know, especially if you have a single parent, they lack that companion, lack that one person that they can speak to. And that is the larger conversation this film brings forward. The theory of companionship.
What was the most challenging part about portraying a grown daughter who must “parent” her parent?
It is a natural instinct, you know, that love turns into protectiveness, protectiveness turns into control, and control turns into possessiveness. Usually, when it is somebody who is not your parent, an elderly person, you kind of sit them down and you tell them, 'You need to take care of your health this way, this is what you should do.' You are much more patient with people outside your home.
But because these are your own parents, you just expect them to understand things at one go. These are the same set of people who held our hands and taught us to walk. And every time we fell down, they picked us up. And today, just to climb a flight of stairs, they hold us. It’s like life coming full circle. It’s inevitable. And that is Haati Haati Paa Paa. This is what happens in life.
My mother and I... we love watching movies together. We always try to catch the night show. We have a tendency to buy caramel and cheese popcorn. We mix it and we kind of end up finishing it even before the show starts.
Then there are these moments where every time she’s trying to upload something on social media or do something, she takes too much time. And then I get frustrated. And I’m like, listen, why don’t you just let it be? And she wants me to teach her. And that is a lengthier process. Then I just call my brother.
Do you think today’s young adults struggle more to balance personal ambitions with family expectations?
See, I think we are living in extremely fast times, we’re all trying to attain something or the other, not realising the biggest truth in life... which is we come with nothing and then we chase everything and then we leave with nothing. Right. But right now, it is that phase where we’re all trying to chase everything.
So, in that phase, of course, I think family does take a bit of a backseat at times. This balance is not only maintained from our side. I think even the parents kind of play along with us to help strike that balance.
But is that balance difficult to achieve?
It depends on the priorities. I have always believed in a work-life balance and somehow that is something my parents have also instilled in me. My mother is extremely supportive. And that’s how she’s brought me up. Like even amidst 10,000 things, I’ll make it a point to attend my niece’s birthday. I’ll spend at least an entire 24 hours with her, make her feel like the most special person on the planet and then I’ll come back. And she also understands that. It made her happy. It made her smile. She felt special on her birthday.
That is what matters to me. So I think these little, little things, if you do for your family, matter... and that is what my mother does as well. And when I come back, I make sure to kind of spend some time, take her out for a movie, order her favourite food. Whenever I’m travelling, you know, whenever I’m amidst promotions, I call her up, and I say, 'Listen, you love cheese chicken kebabs. I’m just ordering it.' With family, it’s not about grand gestures. It’s about those little things. And I think that is what they know. You just need to tell them that you are there.
Did playing this role change anything in you?
No, it didn’t, it didn’t change anything in me, but it kind of created a sense of longing that, because this movie deals with the interpersonal relationship between a father and a daughter, which is very different from actually what a mother and a daughter share. A mother and a daughter are usually more like friends. They fight, they crave, they love, they hug, they embrace.
But the relationship between a father and a daughter is rather complex. Like, you know, once a daughter is getting married, usually, from what we see, fathers tend to hold a brave front in front of the daughter, so that the daughter remains strong when they leave home. There are fewer spoken words, but an ocean of emotions between them.