Dolcy D’Cruz
Written and directed by Indo Canadian filmmaker Eisha Marjara, ‘Calorie’ by Compass Productions, follows a Sikh-Canadian family as they confront loss and generational wounds, rediscovering love, identity, and healing along the way. For Eisha, bringing ‘Calorie’ to India carries deep emotional weight. This is the first time she had her film screen at IFFI but it’s her second visit to the sunny state of Goa. She first came to Goa in 2019 during Film Bazaar to network and explore financing options. “We were hoping to find an Indian co-producer, that didn’t happen. So it’s a fully Canadian funded film. But we met some really good people.” of three awards at IFFSA Toronto. The ensemble cast is led by Ellora Patnaik, known for ‘Sort Of’, ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’, ‘Kim’s Convenience’, and ‘Ginny & Georgia’, alongside Anupam Kher, Dolly Ahluwalia, Shanaya Dhillon Birmhan in her debut, Ashley Ganger, Sana Syed, Puja Uppal, and Tia Bhatia. The f ilm is produced by longtime collaborator Joe Balass. The film is already praised after its world premiere at the Calgary International Film Festival and winner ‘Calorie’ has been over a decade in the making. “I wrote the first draft 10 years ago. It was on the back burner while Joe and I made two films since. But this was always in the works,” she explains. The project was shot partly in Montreal and partly in India, though logistical challenges delayed the Indian schedule by a year. “We met a fantastic line producer, Manpreet Singh Sidhu, who has worked with many international directors and productions. He was the key in helping us get the whole India shoot on board. The Canadian crew and the Indian crew just worked magically together. It was a really positive, fun experience,” she says. Although fictional, the film is inspired by the backdrop of the Air India Flight 182 bombing, which deeply shaped Eisha’s own life. Her mother Devinder and sister Seema were killed in the bombing that took place in 1985. She informs, “The characters are fictional, and the situations are fictional. The only thing that’s personal to me is the background of the story, which is the bombing of Air India f light 182, in which I lost my mother and my sister and the film sort of creates this f ictional story around a real life event. It’s based on something real, but everything else is fictional. Its 40 years ago and the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history, and most Canadians don’t know about it.” ‘Calorie’ centers on three generations of Sikh Canadian women. Monika, a stressed single mother, sends her teenage daughters to India in hopes they reconnect with their Punjabi roots. “These teen girls are so disconnected from their Indian heritage. It addresses the issues of the South Asian diaspora, how they experience this kind of dual identity. And we find out why they don’t know anything about their history, their family’s history, their cultural history. It’s a very layered and complex film story, but it all comes together around this one event that has touched all of these lives in different ways.” Working with Dolly Ahluwalia and Anupam Kher brought its own revelations. Dolly helped fine-tune cultural nuance, “She’d tell me, ‘A Punjabi mom would never say this. She’d rearrange the dialogue and it worked. I didn’t see Anupam Kher on the film. I saw Mohan, completely absorbed in the character. When the camera comes on, he comes on. He’s a professional, and he’s a teacher.
