''Zwigato'' is a 2022 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Nandita Das Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), '' Bawandar'' (2000), '' Kannathil Muthamittal' ...

. The film is produced by

Applause Entertainment Applause Entertainment, a venture of the Aditya Birla Group, Aditya Birla Group of Companies, headed by Sameer Nair is a Production house, media, content and IP creation studio. Television shows Films References {{reflist External l ...

and Nandita Das Initiatives. Kapil Sharma and

Shahana Goswami Shahana Goswami (born ) is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of Indian economist and writer Omkar Goswami. She became known for her supporting role in the musical drama film ''Rock On!!'' (2008), which won her the Filmfare Critics Award ...

star as the leads. The film debuted at the

2022 Toronto International Film Festival The 47th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 8 to 18, 2022. The 2022 festival was staged primarily in-person; a small selection of films were offered on the Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox platform, but this represente ...

. The film was theatrically released on 17 March 2023. At the 69th Filmfare Awards, the film received three nominations, including Critics Best Film and Critics Best Actress

Plot

The film, set in current times in

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

, explores the life of Manas, an ex-factory floor manager. After losing his job, he is forced to work as a food delivery rider, grappling with the app on his phone and the world of ratings and incentives. He struggles to make ends meet for his wife, Pratima, his two children, and an ailing mother. Simultaneously, Pratima a homemaker, begins to explore different work opportunities to support his income, from being a masseuse for rich women to being a cleaner at a mall. The fears of these new experiences are coupled with the joys of newfound independence.

Cast

* Kapil Sharma as Manas Singh Mahto *

as Pratima Mahto * Gul Panag as herself * Sayani Gupta as zonal head *

Swanand Kirkire Swanand Kirkire (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, who works in Marathi and Hindi film and television. Kirkire won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice: f ...

as Govind Raj * Tushar Acharya as Raghu

Production

The film has been extensively shot and set in

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Hitesh Sonik. The lyrics were written by Devanshu And Geet.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

at the Contemporary World Cinema section in September 2022. The Film had its Asian premiere at the

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

at 'A Window of Asian Cinema' in October 2022. It was the opening film of the ‘Kaleidoscope section’ at the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

in December 2022. It was released theatrically on 17 March 2023 to positive reviews from critics. After the theatrical release, the Odisha Government declared the film tax-free in the state.

Reception

Critical reception

''Zwigato'' received positive reviews from critics. Anna M. M. Vetticad in ''

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

'' wrote "Zwigato is a film of unassuming depth and unobtrusive commentary. Why on earth didn’t someone make this before?"

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, editor and documentary screenwriter. He was a columnist at ''BBC News'', ''Business Standard'', ''Hindustan Times'' and '' The Financial Express''. He has also written for ''The Telegraph'', ''The Tim ...

of ''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

'' wrote "Unpretentious but unfailingly pertinent. Zwigato hits home with equal measures of power and pathos." SR Praveen from ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' wrote, "Deftly weaved. A poignant story of the new working class."

Box office

The film collected gross of -.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes , zwigato Indian drama films 2020s Hindi-language films Films set in Odisha Films shot in Odisha