Juice
Neeraj Ghaywan
India. 2017. 14 min

Brijesh Singh is having a house party to which his colleagues have been invited. Only big boys are aboard this ship, filled to the deck with loud laughter and casual sexism. Brijesh’s wife Manju (a superb Shefali Shah) is the captain elsewhere – in the kitchen. Manju and the wives of Brijesh’s colleagues are hard at work cooking goodies to go with the drinks. The men gossip about their disapproval of a new female colleague. One suggests that she should not have been hired in the first place and then apologises to Manju. She gives the faintest hint of a smile and leaves.

In the kitchen, the women discuss the pros and cons of marriage, bringing a child into the world, and balancing domestic duties with careers. Both genders have made their peace in their respective worlds, or so it seems.