Love in the time of loneliness: Paswaar spotlights Parsi elders’ lives

Dr Homi an ageing Parsi man waits for his nephew to visit At his home where he lives alone his caretaker Lali prepares some fish Before she leaves for the day Homi says ldquoLali mane paswaar nehelliprdquo She gently strokes his arm and backPaswaar Caress is filmmaker Shayar Gandhirsquos debut feature A 40minute film in the Gujarati language it made its world premiere on October 11 in Seattle at the Tasveer Film Festival 2025 mdash South Asiarsquos only Oscarqualifying film festival The film which stars veteran actor Arvind Vaidya and Mamta Bhavsar is a story of loneliness compassion and the small gestures that hold people together when family ties begin to frayldquoI was very close to my grandfatherrdquo Gandhi says when asked where the story began ldquoHe had lost my grandmother early on and lived without a companion for 15 years Seeing him long for such basic human wants and eventually wear out because of it opened my eyes to this aspect of the human conditionrdquoLalirsquos compassion for Homi is both tender and transactional right Homirsquos world is a meditation on a community thatrsquos fading awayThat observation of solitude tenderness and the human need for care runs through Paswaar like a steady heartbeat While the film centres on the relationship between Homi and Lali itrsquos also a reflection on the world outside one where the elderly often outlive their families their routines shrinking into ritual and their companionship outsourced to strangersldquoThrough Homi and Lalirsquos relationshiprdquo Gandhi says ldquothe film opens up a dialogue about whom we consider as our own and who is a stranger We reserve our best compassion for those we think of as our own The film questions this notion of who is lsquoapnarsquo and who is lsquoparayarsquo after allrdquoShooting with the Surti dialect was Gandhirsquos deliberate choice He says it made the characters come alive for him ldquoThey the characters were not just cardboard cutouts trying to fit into a story structure Rather they were enablers for such a tale to be toldrdquo he addsThe film is a wakeup call for the futureHomirsquos world mdash the red Parsi topi shelves lined with glass bottles of medicines the scent of Patra ni Machchi cooking in the kitchen mdash also becomes a meditation on a community thatrsquos fading away ldquoI was born and raised in the old parts of Surat which had a significant Parsi influencerdquo Gandhi explains ldquoThe first school I went to was run by the Parsi trust The neighbourhood where I grew up had a strong Parsi presence The Parsi way of life is ingrained in my own fond memories of the community And sadly it is fading away I feel a strong sense of loss a loss which is ethnic cultural and deeply personalrdquoIn Paswaar the relationship between Homi and Lali also touches on class gender and the unspoken hierarchies between the caregiver and the caredfor Gandhi captures these nuances without sentimentality or caricature ldquoIt took considerable research and a great deal of imagination to capture the complexities of such a relationshiprdquo he says ldquoI didnrsquot want to fall into clicheacutesrdquo What emerges is an honest portrait of two people bound by circumstance trying to make sense of each other Lalirsquos compassion is both tender and transactional while Homirsquos loneliness is tinged with yearningShayar GandhiFor Gandhi though the film isnrsquot just about one manrsquos solitude itrsquos a glimpse into a larger societal shift ldquoWhile the film addresses emotional isolation in the present it is a wakeup call for the futurerdquo he says ldquoOur sociocultural and economic values have changed drastically in the last two decades This will affect the next generation of the old in ways we donrsquot fully understand yetrdquoAs India urbanises and families shrink more elderly people are living alone and their care is outsourced to parttime help Gandhi is frank about this changing reality ldquoFamilies do tend to their elderly but often itrsquos not out of care Itrsquos because of the societal stigma associated with abandoning them that forces their attentionrdquoA modest production Paswaar also pushed Gandhi to wear multiple hats mdash writer lyricist costume designer mdash out of both necessity and conviction ldquoThere is no other way for independent filmmaking to happen Sad but true But I did enjoy my debut as a songwriterrdquo he saysHe found his perfect Homi in Arvind Vaidya a veteran of Gujarati theatre and cinema ldquoI had my heart on him from day onerdquo Gandhi recalls ldquoOnce he read the script and the maverick that he is it did not take much time for him to transition into a Parsirdquo The chemistry between Vaidya and Mamta Bhavsar who plays Lali carried much of the filmrsquos emotional weightFor Gandhi premiering at Tasveer Film Festival mdash a major platform for South Asian cinema mdash is both a milestone and a validation ldquoThe most challenging partrdquo he says ldquowas keeping onersquos head when all about you are losing theirs The most rewarding part is seeing the emotions on the faces of my audiencerdquo