A Movie Review by Kavita A Chhibber
“You always wanted to be like me, but you were never good enough.”
“You are dumb!’”
“You are a failure.”
“Look at so and so’s kid. He got a perfect score on the SAT. He got into an Ivy League school. You didn’t.”
“You are fat, you are thin!”
“After all that I did for you, you are not listening to me.”
“I won’t give you a promotion unless you do this for me.”
‘You must ask ME for money every time you want something. So, what if you are my wife. Its MY money!”
These are only a fraction of the examples I can give of direct and indirect ways of bullying. We have often seen or experienced emotional blackmail that human beings put their loved ones or colleagues or friends through. Every psychiatrist, mental health expert under the sun will agree that childhood trauma of abuse, disrespect, and feeling unheard leaves a far deeper impact than we realize. It continues when we become adults, and we are unable to decide what is acceptable and what is not.
It ends up leading to more trauma and mental health issues.
TWO STEPS, a short film that had its premiere on 28th February 2026 at Cambridge Massachusetts, explored the theme of childhood trauma and its long-lasting impact on an individual. It’s the second film in a trilogy that focuses on mental health issues. The first film, Words of Rage, dealt with anger issues, a subject that is often overlooked in women.
Seema Chaudhary , who produced and acted in Words of Rage says ”We have seen Amitabh Bachchan play the angry young man and become very successful, but very often, the fact that women deal with similar emotions, is sidelined. So we decided to make a film that focused on the fact that women too deal with such issues, Even though a lot has changed for the better, so many women still do NOT have a voice. Suppressed anger when it erupts leads to so many losses. We lose ourselves and then we lose our loved ones, because as the saying goes, you are not punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”
The film went on to also give the message that with the help of family members and the community at large you can conquer the battle.
In TWO STEPS, Seema’s character continues her journey of growth and self-reflection, but her past resurfaces when she is at a party correcting adult attendees who are body shaming a woman. There she meets Jo. They realize they knew each other as children. Seema was the outgoing leader of a gang of bullies and Jo, a quiet, sensitive girl trying to fit in, had to find her way through the maze of bullying, mockery and derision from Seema and her gang. The wounds of the past have followed Jo into her adulthood and meeting her nemesis brings out intense emotions in both women.
As is the case, both remember things differently and from their own point of view. Seema shares with Jo that she has had to get medical assistance for her anger issues. And she has other struggles as well while living a fake, seemingly perfect life. Jo is no longer the quiet, sensitive, gentle soul. Her wounds have made her work through her own vulnerabilities and she has become tough as nails, taking life by the horns and all its thorns – two divorces, a devil may care attitude, a successful career, her now outgoing personality and outer beauty. It seems very similar to what Seema used to be.
As Seema struggles with her own demons, seeing Jo shining in a new avatar, she says again, and again to Jo, as if to convince herself, as if to try and justify her past behavior as a bully, that the new Jo who always wanted to be like her, is now finally like HER. Seema fails to see the loathing in Jo’s eyes, when she keeps on repeating that thought.
Hemant Pandya, who has directed several films and is the writer of TWO STEPS has had a long, impressive track record in television and films. He has worked with Paresh Rawal (who he considers his guru), Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and many other stalwarts of Indian films and theater. He has been involved with many well-known television series and plays. What brought Seema and him together was Seema’s interest in doing films with a social message. The three films Hemant had made before all dealt with social causes. Words of Rage was his fourth film. It has won many awards and is still doing the rounds of film festivals.
“After Words of Rage Seema wanted to do the next film as well on a similar theme with a social cause and we came up with the subject of bullying. When I narrated the story to Seema, she was very happy that it was again a female protagonist. We wanted to portray bullying in a unique way. It is not just happening in schools. It’s happening everywhere.”
“The focus was that childhood trauma stays with you for a long time and can create a bigger trauma as an adult.”
Because of that, Seema’s character continues from Words of Rage to reappear again in TWO STEPS. There is a dialogue in this film where Seema says she had to get medical help to deal with her anger issues, tying in both films. Another character is then introduced into the film, of Seema’s childhood friend Jo, who was bullied by Seema and her gang of followers.
Several people came to audition, but Hemant was not impressed. “I was not happy. I wanted someone who could play the character with duality, to show that we all have shades of grey in us.”
It was when Seema, who had been meeting Aashita Shekhar at various events (and Hemant had also met her casually) asked Hemant to audition her, that things started moving. For Aashita Shekhar, the world of Jo was an alien world. “I told Seema, I am nowhere near the character or have traits that Jo has. She is wild, revengeful, drinks and smokes. I am not like that.” But as Aashita looked deeper into the character and tried to understand Jo, she realized that those traits were Jo’s defense mechanism to survive, to control her emotions, to curb her anger.
The best way to portray her character was that “You borrow her behavior, but you don’t want to borrow her identity. I also had to remind myself that we all have a Jo and a Seema in us. Darkness and light always co-exist. You must decide what you want to feed more.” It resulted in a stellar, multi-layered performance and exploration of how Jo, the quiet submissive young girl in school who tolerated the pain of being constantly bullied and ill-treated in silence, became the firebrand who finally stood up to those who hurt her.
Meeting Seema again as an adult brings back the memories of abuse and the meeting soon turns into a cat and mouse game, with psychological twists and turns.
Aashita’s background as a trained dancer in many art forms, having done theater, being a storyteller herself, helped her, she says in understanding the heartbeat of the character.
Nita Pednekar made her brilliant debut as the director of TWO STEPS and the film has already won three awards, in international film festivals in Italy and Thailand as it starts its rounds on the circuit.
Nita, who works full time in the Home Fashion Textile Industry, says she has always been enthusiastic about the creative arts, but it took 10 long years to get her first dab at film direction. She was always there on sets when Hemant was making his films, helping in different departments. Hemant is a tough task master, and Nita says many times she was asked to leave the sets, but she stayed because she wanted to learn and that the collaboration with Hemant was what made the film stand out.
“He is a very good writer, and I immediately liked the script. There is an honesty in it that immediately draws you in. He brought out the complex emotions in the characters very beautifully.”
Nita adds that women directors react more with emotions, but Hemant could see what she wanted to portray. “I wanted to show the trauma, and the vulnerability, to be captured in a subtle, understated way. That is far more effective than loud violent depiction of the same emotion.”
Nita attributes her success as a debutant storyteller to learning through practical experience, and her comfort level with Hemant. Nita mentions with a laugh that “Everyone kept saying Hemant is very strict, but he really knows how to extract the very best from everyone.”
An example is a seven-minute intense interaction between Seema and Jo, at Jo’s apartment, as the past returns to haunt them both and the conversation that takes place required a finesse that created a deep impact, a slow building of tension, without going overboard.
“It’s a seven-minute sequence,” says Hemant “and it doesn’t seem like it was long, but in a 25–30-minute film 7 minutes is a long time. To hold that tension for 7 minutes with non-actors needs extra effort. So, I acted very strict and angry, scolding Seema and Aashita, and threatening to leave the sets because they weren’t doing a decent job, they weren’t remembering their lines. Seema and Aashita were upset but what resulted was a brilliant performance. I got exactly what I wanted from them. I learnt that from Paresh Rawal. He used to irritate people. If you are trained or experienced, you may bring your own perception and interpretation of a scene. What is great about being an untrained actor is that you are like a blank slate and you will listen to the director.”
The climax of the movie has many twists and turns with conflict and closure coming in an unusual way. Initially the movie was going to end in a closure that was tragic and violent, but Ritika Bajaj, a well-known writer, and a good friend of Hemant, gave him an alternate ending that created empathy. And Nita added a subtle touch that was even more impactful, in the end.
Hemant adds, “When it’s your baby, you are influenced by your own perspective, But I trust Ritika and I said let’s shoot the suggested ending and see how it looks. When my editor also said the new ending looked good, we went with that.”
Everyone also brings their own story and life experiences into a film, which deals with a sensitive topic of childhood bullying and how your experiences shape your existence.
Seema recalls growing up in a conservative family, who reluctantly, but nevertheless supported her decision not to get married early, go to law school and practice. “My younger brother got married before me and they weren’t pleased, but it was seeing my mother’s financial dependence on the family that made me even more determined that I was going to be financially independent first.”
Seema also felt she had to fulfil her dreams of higher education and financial independence before she got married because there were no guarantees that she would be able to pursue it after marriage. Her mother and grandfather supported her. She recalls riding a motor bike and falling. And when her family was admonished for allowing a girl to ride a bike and get injured her grandfather stopped them by saying she must fall before she can learn how to rise.
Seema’s father would act in school and college plays but could never pursue it as a career because it would not have met with family or community approval. He was limited to entertaining family members. Seema was not allowed to participate in college plays, so it is great to see her do it now in two back-to-back films.
Seema’s focus is to do work that brings out social causes and emotions that are not dealt with openly and are underrepresented in public. She found a kindred spirit in Hemant “I connected with Hemant because we shared the same passion about emotional storytelling with a social cause in mind.” Seema says, “women still don’t have a powerful voice and childhood trauma of being suppressed stays with you longer than you realize. We think we are moving forward but childhood trauma can create many setbacks that can make us take a step back before we can move forward.”
Aashita who also co produced the film says “I have been at the receiving end and mostly at a subtle level. I studied in a co-ed school where there were far more boys than girls. I was quite naïve and innocent so when boys constantly sought my attention, I didn’t always recognize the reason behind it and what resulted from both boys and girls was both manipulative, and at times, a more subtle kind of bullying. Sometimes authenticity can intimidate people. And when you still try to be yourself it can sometimes create distance and a quiet rivalry. At that age you feel scared and responsible without knowing how to respond. That is why I connected with the character of Jo, because she internalizes things and because she questions herself before she questions others.” Aashita pointed out that research has shown how relationship bullying, friends’ drama and the power dynamics within those relationships can leave lasting wounds.
“I have witnessed it myself; how close friendships can become hostile or false narrative can spread, and reputations can be damaged. So, when that trauma remains, it does not dissipate. It deepens instead, and it really is all about feelings we carry from our past, and how they quietly shape who we become.”
The seven-minute sequence between Jo and Seema, runs the gamut of aggression, pain, with Jo trying to reclaim her power and Seema trying to bury the weight of the past, and each one trying to figure out how to handle those emotions. Seema’s obsessive control over Jo made her very uncomfortable as a child and Jo recreates the scene to emerge the winner this time.
The power shift between the two was the most compelling moment of the film says Aashita. “We have explored some difficult questions in this film. Can empathy emerge from deep betrayal? Is redemption possible for the wounded and the one who caused the wound? My eyes welled up during that scene. I was grieving for everyone who has had to confront themselves through someone else’s life.”
“For me, the title TWO STEPS itself is a metaphor with one step in the past where pain lives and one step forward towards awareness, growth and hopefully reconciliation. Ultimately TWO STEPS is about breaking the cycles of silence and choosing awareness before the pain escalates.
Seema agrees. “What stayed with me was the entire emotional journey, the vulnerability of my character and the instant shifts that happened without the use of words. And the realization that healing does begin only when you confront the trauma and face the truth. Childhood trauma does not disappear with time. It waits. And the healing only begins when it is confronted. We can outrun many things in life but not our unresolved parts. Our past always has a way of catching up with us.”
Hemant agrees, “Your past does not disappear completely. It’s always there. You may control your triggers and emotions, but when it does come up, no matter how much control you think you have, you will always react to it.”
In the film Seema looks at her past and tries to justify it. Jo’s response shocks her.
But for all of us it is a life lesson to remember that whether we want or don’t want to be like someone else, we never enter someone’s life and don’t leave an imprint.
Nita adds, “Women are stronger than men, but they must speak up. It is always the quiet ones who are left behind and while a strong woman, a fearless woman can take care of herself, many quiet ones need to be reminded that they too have that power within them, must reclaim it, and stop others from manipulating or bullying them.”
Hemant always likes to work with non-actors and makes it a point to choose actors from the region where the film is being shot. So, all the actors were from Massachusetts even though Both Nita and he live in New Jersey. “I always like to explore local talent. People exaggerate the definition of acting, when acting is simply a reaction to an emotion in the other person’s lines.” It was fun for us to see many of our friends and familiar faces in the community doing cameos in the film.
What surprised both Hemant and Nita were Vernika (Seema’s actual daughter) and Aarna (Aashita’s actual daughter) playing the childhood version of their mothers. Nita said what really made her happy was how she was able to bring out the best in the two young, untrained actors, and the other kids who were part of the bullying gang.
“The kids required sensitivity and patience but the authenticity they brought into the performance cannot be taught. It was not an easy topic to be explained, and it had to be handled with sensitivity because enacting it could have been traumatic for a child. I did not want to take them towards negativity. The way we explained it was not written in the script. The kids just understood it at an intuitive level and gave the shots I needed from them.”
Everyone was very appreciative of the collaborative experience that went into the making of the film.
A sensitive topic like this requires trust, generosity and courage to understand that it’s the film in its entirety that has to be made, and it has to be made with pure intentions and without individual self-promotion.
What was the message the film makers and the actors wanted the audience to take away? Each one said it in different words but had the same message. That childhood trauma must be addressed, and if it is addressed with empathy and understanding, instead of negative judgment, it can lead to resolution and reconciliation.
The film keeps you on the edge of your seat, as it explores the themes of trauma, confrontation, possibility of resolution and none of us were prepared for the final twist in the ending. I can’t give away the entire story as the film is now doing the rounds of film festivals and has already started winning awards. It’s a must watch.
I’m sure the audience had their own memories come up after watching the film. I hope all of us can be inclusive and kind and help others rise. I hope we can teach not just the children but the adults to recognize the patterns without and within that require healing and zero tolerance of any kind of bullying or manipulative behavior.
The devil and divine are both within us. We often choose one or the other based on life lessons we have learnt. Triggers lead to negativity. Self-awareness leads to empathy and therein lies the difference between choosing darkness or light.