''Shiv Shastri Balboa'' is a 2023 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film written and directed by

Ajayan Venugopalan Ajayan Venugopalan is an Indian screenwriter, film director. Life He started his career as a writer/director of the acclaimed Malayalam television sitcom '' Akkara Kazhchakal''. This T.V series was followed by a movie based on the show call ...

. The film stars Anupam Kher,

Neena Gupta Neena Gupta (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian actress and television director who works in Hindi films and television. Known for her work in both art-house and commercial films, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for pl ...

and

Jugal Hansraj Jugal Hansraj is an Indian actor, author and filmmaker. He started his career as a child actor in Shekhar Kapur's '' Masoom'' (1983). He continued his career as a child actor in films like ''Karma'' (1986) and '' Sultanat'' (1986). He featured ...

in lead roles. The film was shot mostly in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, U.S. The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

and background score were composed by

Alokananda Dasgupta Alokananda Dasgupta is a contemporary music composer. She was pursuing her Masters in English Literature at Calcutta University when she decided to pursue her lifelong passion for music in Toronto, where she completed a Bachelors of Music with ...

. The cinematography was done by Joshua Ausley and edited by

Praveen Prabhakar Praveen Prabhakar (born 9 September 1976) is an Indian film editor who works in Malayalam films. Biography Early life He studied at St. Joseph's College, Devagiri and migrated to Chennai in 1997. He graduated from the University of Cali ...

Plot

Shiv Shankar Shastri a retiree, a widower from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and a big

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

movie fan move to the USA in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

to be with his only son. He has to shoot a video of himself doing the

Rocky Steps The 72 stone steps leading up to the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have become known as the "Rocky Steps" as a result of a scene from the 1976 film ''Rocky''. Tourists often mimic Rocky's famous clim ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

for an impending interview in India, but his son refuses as being busy. Stuck in a large house alone with a dog, he is forced to befriend him and makes an unlikely bond with an undocumented housekeeper named Elsa. Though they belong to different economic and social strata, these two lonely souls end up on an unexpected road trip through the American heartland which teaches that it's never too old to reinvent yourself. Shiv Shastri Balboa is a comedy that discusses cultural stigma, undocumented immigration, and racism and how a man's passion for cinema can overcome it all.

Cast

* Anupam Kher as Shiv Shankar Shastri *

as Elsa *

as Rahul *

Sharib Hashmi Sharib Hashmi (born 25 January 1976) is an Indian actor, writer, producer and director who works in the Hindi cinema. He is best known for portraying J.K. Talpade in the Amazon Prime Video series ''The Family Man'' (2019-2021) and Sunny in Film ...

as Cinnamon Singh *

Nargis Fakhri Nargis Fakhri (born October 20, 1979) is an American actress and model who primarily works in the Indian Hindi-language films. Her first role in film came with the 2011 romantic drama ''Rockstar'', for which she was nominated for Filmfare Award ...

as Siya * Aarav Desai as Advaith *

Rajat Sharma Rajat Sharma (born 18 February 1957) is an Indian journalist and businessperson who is the chairman and Editor-in-chief of India TV, an Indian news outlet. Sharma is known for his show ''Aap Ki Adalat'' in which he is seen interviewing politic ...

as himself * Anil Joseph as Sanjeev * Simonas Zmuidzinas as Police Officer

Reception

Dhaval Roy of

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

gave 4 out of 5 ratings Joyeeta Mitra Suvarna of

India TV India TV is a Hindi news channel based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The channel was launched on 20 May 2004 by Rajat Sharma and wife Ritu Dhawan. The channel is a subsidiary of Independent News Service, which was co-founded by Sharma and Dha ...

gave 4 out of 5 ratings, Urmila Kori of

Prabhat Khabar Prabhat Khabar is a Hindi language newspaper published daily in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The newspaper is circulated in several states in India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and some parts of Orissa. It was founded in August 1 ...

gave 3 out of 5 ratings, Virendra Mishra of

Amar Ujala ''Amar Ujala'' is a Hindi-language daily newspaper published in India which was founded in 1948. It has 21 editions in six states and two union territories covering 180 districts. It has a circulation of around two million copies. The 2017 Ind ...

gave 3 out of 5 ratings, and Roktim Rajpal of

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

gave 2.5 out of 5 ratings. Monika Rawal Kukreja of

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

wrote "Shiv Shastri Balboa is sweet, innocent and an endearing story about love, life and learnings.", Rekha Khan of

Navbharat Times ''Navbharat Times'' (NBT) a Hindi newspaper distributed in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur. It is from the stable of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), which also publishes other dailies including ''The Times of India'', ''The Economic Tim ...

wrote "Lovers of family and entertainment films can watch this film.",. The film has been also reviewed by Jyotsna Rawat of

Navodaya Times ''Navodaya Times '' is a Hindi-language newspaper established in 2013 and published from Delhi. It is owned by the Punjab Kesari group (The Hindsamachar Ltd.). It is one of the four newspapers started by the group; the other three are ''Punjab Ke ...

, Shubhra Gupta of

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

gave 2.5 out of 5 ratings. Shiv Shastri, a middle-aged ex-banker from Bhopal, starts a new life in the US, where his successful doctor son, Hansraj, resides. Inspired by 'Rocky,' Shastriji dreams of replicating iconic steps in Pennsylvania. Loneliness fades as he befriends Elsa-from-Hyderabad, a housekeeper with dreams. Elsa, saving for eight years, seeks Shastriji's help to visit India due to underpayment. Their road-trip faces challenges like theft and racism, yet the film's genuine affection for characters shines through. Kher and Gupta tackle problems with resilience, making empathy easy on their journey.

Screenings and film festivals

The film premiered in North America at Chicago South Asian film festival and Atlanta Indian Film Festival and received rave reviews. Shiv Shastri Balboa was awarded the best feature film (Runner-up) at CSAFF.{{cite web, title=CSAFF 2022 winners, url=https://www.csaff.org/, website=csaff.org, access-date=26 September 2022

References

2020s Hindi-language films Films shot in New Jersey