Two brothers in Delhi set up an ad hoc wildlife hospital where they treat injured birds, predominantly the native black kite, in this handsomely photographed and pensive documentary. Shaunak Sen’s remarkable film uses the affectionately combative relationship between Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, and the painstaking work that they do, as a lens through which to view a city in crisis. Delhi is an urban ecosystem that is changing at an accelerated pace; its air quality index rating is the worst in the world.
At the frontline are the creatures – not only birds: the film affords the same curious engagement to the monkeys that throng on rooftops, the bugs squirming in puddles, and even the rats, the eddying currents of rodents that spill through the streets at night. And it’s not just the air that’s polluted. A tide of religious hatred is rising, with Muslim neighbourhoods such as the one in which the brothers live targeted by rioters. But despite the poisons in the air, the brothers continue their work, mending broken creatures, one by one.
