Don’t Tell Mother

Jurassic Park is in cinemas, smartphones don’t exist, and VHS rules at home. Anoop Lokkur’s outstanding feature debut offers a rare and rewarding glimpse into middle-class life in India, 1993. Against this backdrop, Lokkur has created anything but a simple nostalgia piece. Instead, he balances warmth and tenderness with sharp social critique as we observe the rhythms of everyday life for parents Lakshmi and Raju, and their primary school-age sons Adi and Aakash. Like a polaroid developing before our eyes, this finely wrought drama reveals its complexity and rings achingly true at every turn. First-time child actors Siddarth Swaroop and Anirudh P. Keserker are simply amazing as the brothers.