Remember these three things if I die accidentally. No smiling photo of mine should be shown at my funeral. No boring and ugly marigold garland should be put around my picture. And lastly, Naman, my best friend, has to sit at the centre of my memorial ceremony and has to cry his heart out like he has not cried in the past. And, I will come back if the promises are not fulfilled.” These were the last words of Mahima, a girl from Jaipur who dies in an accident, leaving her friend Naman alone in Dheeraj Jindal’s upcoming 13-minute-long film Momo Deal.
What happens next? Of course, Mahima comes back.
Not because of her unfulfilled wishes, but because she owes Naman a plate of momo, as Naman paid the bill of their last meal before her death.
Set in Jaipur, Jindal’s film is a step into a surreal world from the first frame. After the funeral, Mahima comes back to fulfill her debt of momos. In the next few minutes, the audience sees both of them roaming around the streets of Jaipur and Mahima doing a lot of crazy stuff, including search for momos at the dead of night.
A tale of friendship
“Momo Deal is a story of friendship. We all have a lot of friends in our lives, but there is that one friend who knows everything about us. They know us better than our parents and perhaps even our partners. They laugh and cry with us, sharing the special moments of our lives. We are dependent on them. However, on one fine day, these friends bid adieu to us. No prior messages, no goodbyes. This film is about that particular friend. Mahima, who dies in the beginning, comes back seeing that her friend is unable to accept her death,” says Delhi-born Jindal, who is now based in Mumbai.
But why explore the idea with momos? Jindal says there is a personal connection here. “A plate of momos often makes friendships special. When I was in college, I had one friend who used to eat momos daily. I was not a big fan of momos at that point. However, I loved going out with her, and we bonded over that dish. Momos do make good friendships,” notes Jindal. “In the film as well, Mahima returns for the unfulfilled momo deal. Although their search is not successful, the event helps Naman come to terms with the reality of death,” adds Jindal.
The streets of Jaipur
Although Jindal is from Delhi and is presently based in Mumbai, the film is shot neither in Delhi nor in Mumbai. Instead, the camera follows the characters on the streets of Jaipur. A relatively smaller city compared to both Delhi and Mumbai. When the director was asked about the connection, he responded by saying that “Delhi and Mumbai are both big cities, and due to the everyday corporate hustle, one can not meet friends regularly. But that happens in a small town like Jaipur. People get time to check on their friends and go out for some meal or the other every day. So in this film, I focussed on a small-town friendship,” says Jindal.
Apart from this, there is another angle that Jindal has explored in the film. “Prejudices often play a significant role in shaping our lives in smaller townsZ. They shape our characters, our lives, and the relationships that we form. In this film, Mahima is liberated once she dies. It would have been difficult for her to roam around the streets wearing shorts when she was alive. However, once she passes away, she comes back as a ghost, wears shorts, consumes alcohol, and roams around the city at midnight. This is something that she enjoys. Her newfound freedom makes her happy,” says Jindal.
The Delhi connection
Although Jindal is in Mumbai now, he has not forgotten his life in Delhi. He shares how the city has contributed to his identity: “Observation is a key to making films. A director has to observe the characters well. This skill I learnt as a student in Delhi. I observed my surroundings, how people celebrated their lives, how they made friendships, and how they celebrated the moments of joy. Besides, I had some great friends in Delhi, some great life lessons were shared….These things contributed significantly to the person that I am today,” concludes Jindal.