A Forgotten Summer: On Ageing, Loss, Love and Longing

    

I am what I remember. 

Our sense of belonging and identity comes from our understanding and memory of who we are. Imagine being slowly ripped away from that privilege of who we once were, when Alzheimer’s knocks on the doorsteps, and there is no way but to slip into its clutches.

And so, Uttama Rashik forgets who she once was. Proofreader and speechwriter of the former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, and the leading correspondent of Hindustan Times. A woman with wit, intellect, and purpose. She has slowly forgotten who she was. A Forgotten Summer, directed by Fatima, Minha, Isha, Aliya, and Shreya, throws light on the life of Uttama Rashik, living at an elder care facility called Panchvati in Delhi. The film is an intimate sketch of her life, a delicate attempt to touch upon the elusive nature of memory and the challenges of remembering. 

She looks at an old photograph of herself with Indira Gandhi. She stares for a moment and quietly says, "I don’t remember anything."

And yet, she remembers the phone number of her ex-husband, Nazeer, with startling clarity. In a conversation with him, she momentarily becomes the young Uttama again, curious, playful, and wondering aloud whether he has married again.

The story grapples with her happiness, sorrows, the wants, and the small things she looks forward to in her life ahead, from meeting Nazeer to having a toddy. Her story isn’t just about forgetting. It’s about longing.

Her life portrays how small life is, to be forgotten in a short span of time, leaving behind no trace of a life once lived, great or otherwise. How Everything — achievement, identity, love — becomes momentary and infinitesimal.

And yet, the film doesn't end in despair.

It ends in acceptance.

As A Forgotten Summer draws to a close, it gently reminds us: This is life. And life goes on.