
Director Rahul Gandotra is behind the academy award winning short film “The Road Home.” The inspirational film follows a nine-year-old character on a journey to understand where he belongs. Gandotra based the main character, Pico, on himself and his own life experiences as a TCK. He said, “When I was Pico’s age, I was made fun of and lectured about who I was according to other people. Now, it is a little more complex. I’ve lived in 8 countries, so I can’t answer where I am from or where I belong.”
Born to British parents and exposed to western culture at a young age, as a pre-teen he left his parents to go to school in India. “I didn’t get to go through all the cultural rituals and learning experiences that most kids get from living with their parents,” said Gandorta.
In the film, Pico is a young British boy living in a boarding school in India. He runs away from the school and asks a taxi driver to help him get back to England, where his parents are. Along the way, he faces obstacles that enhance his need to search for a home. With the language barrier, the color of his skin, and judgments from outsiders, Pico yearns for a place where he will feel like he belongs.
Rahul Gandotra explains that he created this film as a way to defend his own feelings. After brainstorming other ideas for a script, and hesitating on the idea of bringing his own story into the film, he finally jumped into the project to form a story to which many people worldwide can relate.
“I didn’t realize there were people out there like me,” he explains. “I think the majority of people have lived in the same place for their entire lives, and so this is a film for anyone who has every questioned where they were from.”
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Watch the trailer HERE
CLICK HERE to watch the short film, and experience the story yourself.
This made me definitely want to watch The Road Home. TCKs are all throughout the world, in so many areas of media too!