Cakewalk Short Film Review: Esha Deol’s film will leave a sweet taste in your mouth

By Vandana Srivastawa

on February 19, 2019

Film: Cakewalk

Director: Ram Kamal Mukherjee

Cast: Esha Deol Takhtani, Tarun Malhotra, Anindita Bose, Siddharth Chatterjee

Esha Deol Takhtani is back on the screens after a long hiatus with the short film Cakewalk. Set in the city of Kolkata, the film beautifully captures the essence of life and showcases how convoluted relationships can be.

Cakewalk is a beautiful 27-minute long journey that has food as the common link between the protagonists. Debutant director Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s film leaves a sweet taste in your mouth as the film ends.

Cakewalk opens with Shilpa Sen (Esha) a divorcee, hurrying to reach her office, in this case, a five-star hotel on time. On the way, she is hassled by creditors who are asking her to repay her loans, which is boggling her down, a sum that amounts to Rs 2 lakhs. She is inevitably late to her workplace but what seems to be a simple day at work proves to be one of the toughest for her.

The head chef of the hotel informs everyone that a big dignitary is coming to the hotel to celebrate his anniversary. Since his clientele will bring immense business for the hotel, the chef who manages to impress him with his/her bakery creation will get a prize of Rs 2 lakhs. Esha’s boss played by Siddharth Chatterjee asks her to bake her special cake called “Alaska” for the client. What seems to be easy for Esha who is shown to be runners-up Masterchef, proves to be anything but a cakewalk! She wins the competition as her cake is adjudged the best among the lot and also manages to impress the client played by Tarun Malhotra but at the same time has an emotional upheaval.

[caption id="attachment_216077" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] Esha Deol in Cakewalk[/caption]

However, the twist comes in when Tarun and his wife played by Anindita Bose tastes the cake; the former realizes that the chef who is behind the creation is none-other-than his ex-wife, Shilpa. We get to see how they drifted apart in their relationship and how Tarun makes Esha realize that life is not a cakewalk!

Esha’s performance is up-to-the-mark in this short film as even with fewer dialogues her face and eyes give away the undercurrent of emotions bubbling underneath her calm exterior. In the last scene of the film also where she shares a phone call with Tarun, she comes out as the winner and in the domestic fight scene, her helplessness comes forth efficiently. Anindita in her limited role provides subtle hints about what the story has to offer and her dialogue delivery and screen presence is just right.

Cakewalk is worth a watch for it will definitely give you the impression that everything that happens in life happens for its own good and will eventually lead us to fulfill our purpose.