Ped (The Tree) (2021)

Himangshu and Nammu are selling Himanshu's family house. Nostalgic about the memories made with his childhood best friend and neighbor Seema, Himangshu travels back to the neighborhood where he grew up. We travel through time to a 12-year-old Himanshu and a 16-year-old Seema. Two unusual friends and neighbors, Seema and Himangshu. They would go to the store together, play together, watch TV together, eat together, fix things together, and grow together. But their young relationship takes a blow when their parents have a land dispute involving the daunting, old tree between their houses. Himangshu and Seema try to make sense of the drastic change inside their houses. The children suffer because of the adults' greed and self-centered animosity. While the tree stands taller than ever, unbothered by the tension in the air. Although the dispute is put to an end legally, relationships do not mend. Little Himangshu is kept away from Seema as she waits day after day for him to run toward her with stories from school. Twenty years later, Himangshu returns to his backyard. The tree is still there. So are the markings of his height on the bark of the tree. He could never climb that tree even as Seema waited for him patiently, perched on one of the branches. He saw her through his window: waiting expectantly on the patio, at the gate, and under the tree. Looking for him. Waiting.