Can love develop between an employer and his live-in domestic worker? It’s entirely possible in a fairy tale, where inconvenient truths are...
Can love develop between an employer and his live-in domestic worker? It’s entirely possible in a fairy tale, where inconvenient truths are kept at a distance and questions about propriety, workplace safety and unequal power dynamics are ignored. Rohena Gera’s Is Love Enough, Sir? has an observational style and a realistic approach to scene setting and performance, but the movie is unmistakably a fantasy about love bridging the chasm between wealth and poverty.
Made in 2018 under the title Sir and finally being released in Indian cinemas, the Indo-French co-production pivots on a winning performance by Tillotama Shome. She plays Ratna, a widowed maid who works hard to support her family back in the village. Hired to keep a huge, plush apartment in Mumbai in tip-top condition, Ratna never disappoints, all along nursing a dream of becoming a fashion designer.
The apartment is missing an occupant. Ashwin (Vivek Gomber) was to have lived there with his wife, but the wedding has been called off. As Ashwin lurks about his house, desultorily helps his builder father, and attempts to rekindle his social life, the always happy-to-help Ratna catches his eye.
No alarm bells ring at the prospect of Ratna sharing a living space with her single male employer. Their exchanges are marked by...
