Oscar-nominated ‘Anuja’ Short Film Stars 9-year-old Sajda who Grew up Begging on Streets in India

No matter President Trump latches the door of America to keep the less affluent, the marginalized, and the underprivileged outside; some journeys from the streets or slums in India are destined for success in the United States, braving barriers and borders. Among them is the journey of Anuja from the streets of Old Delhi to the Oscars in Los Angeles. Anuja is an Oscar-nominated short film and a 9-year-old orphaned math whiz, who lives with her elder sister and works in a seedy garment factory.

Nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film at the 97^th Academy Awards, Anuja is a poignant drama on the struggles and aspirations of two budding women by a team of Indian-origin women producers, including Mindy Kaling, Guneet Monga, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Suchitra Mattai. From filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali to Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay to the present-day Anuja, the stories of innocence transit into journeys of experience – the experience that is grim and gloomy.

Anuja and her elder sister, Palak not only stitch clothes in the garment factory but also weave dreams of change for better out of cut pieces (leftover fabric). They remain stuck between a system that perpetuates child labor and a narrow path to escape the system. The bags they secretly make from cut pieces earn them some rupees, a part of which buys them short-lived happiness from mundane luxuries (watching a movie and munching popcorn) and the remaining is saved for an uncertain future.

Like Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories, the short film Anuja has an inconclusive ending. The curtain drops when Anuja, the protagonist, stands still contemplating on the road that diverges in two different directions – one to the factory where she toils for two meals a day and the other to a scholarship for free schooling. It represents the dilemma, mental conflict at large, of hundreds of thousands of children like Anuja, from slums and streets across India, who are tossed between the present and the future, reality and dreams.

Let’s now meet the real hero, Sajda Pathan, who lends absolute authenticity to essaying the titular character, Anuja, and brings it to life. Abandoned by her parents, Sajda Pathan grew up in the claustrophobic lanes of Old Delhi and survived through begging outside a temple before she was rescued by Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT), a nonprofit NGO supporting street children in Delhi-NCR with non-formal education. Salaam Baalak Trust was founded with the proceeds from Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay which was nominated for an Oscar at the 61^st Academy Awards.

Unlike Anuja whose mathematical brilliance was exploited by her employer in the film, Sajda Pathan’s acting talent became a force of change for her fortune. Sajda shines as the protagonist Anuja as it is her second film. She debuted on the silver screen as a lead character in The Braid (La Tresse), a 2023 French feature film.

The Oscar-nominated Anuja short film is strongly backed by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Guneet Monga as executive producers. Guneet Monga was the executive producer of two Oscar-winning documentary films – Period. End of Sentence in 2019 and The Elephant Whisperers in 2023. She has produced a galaxy of critically acclaimed films, including Massan, Rang Rasiya, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Pagglait, and The Lunchbox.