Indians are some of the most hierarchical, racist skunks on the planet. Rohena Gera's Sir — Is love enough? asks if love could possibly change that. It is an exquisite jewel of a romantic drama, that your heart will remember long after you've seen it. It's the perfect Diwali gift—it has actually released in Indian theatres nation-wide this week, hallelujah! This debut feature was at the Cannes Film Festival's International Critics' Week in 2018, where it won the Gan Foundation Award for French distribution. The film, an Indo-French co-production in Hindi and English, reaches India after releasing in 23 nations, shame on us!

Ratna (Tillotama Shome) is a Maharashtrian woman from a village, who works as a housemaid for Ashwin (Vivek Gomber), a wealthy construction business heir, in a Lower Parel highrise (when did you last see a kaamwali bai as the heroine in a feature, let alone its romantic lead?). The drama is set early on: Ratna is a young widow, while the US-returned Ashwin has just cancelled his wedding, as his fiancé was apparently caught having a fling. He's a writer in a funk, following this fiasco and the death of his brother. For Ratna, the Mumbai job is an escape from the stifling village, a chance to pursue her dreams. Ratna is sensitive to Ashwin's feelings: from being politely efficient, she discreetly takes on more, fobbing off his Mummyji's calls when he wants to be left alone. The English-speaking, squash-playing Ashwin is much slower to notice she's more than a "sarvant" (as Ratna calls herself), and learns about her dreams of becoming a fashion designer, and how she's paying for her sister's studies, so she can escape her own fate. Slowly, these lonely souls are drawn to each other—but can love really bridge the class divide?