Pinti’s soap

The film is based on the award winning novel titled ‘Pinti ka Sabun’ (Pinti’s soap) written by Sanjay Khati.

It‘s a sensitive and delightful story of a group of characters living along the mountain valleys in lush Uttarakhand. Lalit, a twelve year old is a carefree boy of the hills who attends schools and works on the family apple orchards. His life is about small adventures and pranks, surrounded by family and friends who are economically depraved yet revel in their humble surrounds.

A chance trip to the village fair with his gregarious young uncle changes his life momentarily. He wins a bar of beauty soap. This soap reminds him of the aroma of the pretty young girl Pinti who once resided in the nearby army barracks. Pinti was charming and pleasant sharing great stories with him and his friends and her aroma always preceded her. The whole village was enchanted by this smell. The reason being a fragrant soap she bathed with.
In this sleepy village where a bar of soap is the ultimate luxury, Pinti’s aroma seemed heaven sent. This soap was her soap and this aroma takes him back to those times. He proudly flaunts the bar of soap to his uncle. When they return the news spreads like wildfire that Lalit has got a fancy bar of soap, and worse this soap is the same as used by Pinti. Now all seem to want a piece of this soap. From his mother, to his sister Kunti, to his way ward Uncle and all his friends too. He carefully hides the soap and uses it sparingly much to everyone’s envy. His aroma now becomes the talk of the town. His friends are jealous, his elders show disdain and everyone seems to become an enemy.
Over the next few days through a series of events Lalit becomes the pet village hate. His only companion is this bar of soap. He keeps protecting it, uses it most sparingly and fights with all to protect his bar of soap. Over time he realizes that the soap is diminishing and that day seems near when the bar of soap would fade away so will its aroma. He stops using it and keeps hiding the soap from place to place. In the meanwhile he tries to restore his broken associations with his friends and family. One fine morning he wakes up to see that the weather has changed and it has rained overnight. An advertising crew too has entered the village to shoot a TV commercial, in the plush surrounds, for the same brand of soap- Pinti’s soap. All the villagers get invited to participate in the shoot and the rumour is that each could get a free bar of soap as take ways.
Will a change in season bring about a change in his life too? How long will his bar of soap last? Will it last as long as he restores his recently upturned life and severed relationships?