Labour of Love (Asha jaoar majhe). 2014. India. Directed by Aditya Vikram Sengupta. In Bengali; English subtitles. 84 min.
In a Kolkata (Calcutta) hard hit by alarming unemployment and social panic, a working-class couple holds down their jobs with unwavering stamina. Without ever exchanging a word, they focus on the motions that keep life going, and the attentive and equally hard-at-work camera follows every mundane activity and finds surprisingly comforting details that the tired souls don’t even notice—but that make life worth living. This debut feature from Aditya Vikram Sengupta captures the poetic rhythm of his hometown. It is a pure expression of love—between a husband and wife, for those who endure and persevere, and for a city that never sleeps.