Salted Black Tea

Honourable Mention

Salted Black Tea is one of six films that we consider particularly successful and significant alongside the winners of the 2nd Taxifilmfest 2025.

In Salted Black Tea, we discover an alleged cultural tradition that is in fact a consequence of the colonisation of the Indian subcontinent with deadly consequences. The British colonialists discovered that they could keep the tea pickers working longer by adding salt to their tea to compensate for the electrolytes they lost through sweating. This has become a tradition that, combined with malnutrition, kills scores of women every year in Assam.

The barely noticeable legacy of British colonialism reminds us of the colonisation of Germany and the world by the Googles, Ubers and AirBnBs. Under the pretext of greater efficiency and cheaper offers, living culture, local customs and traditions are being destroyed by exploitative, inhuman technologies and business models. The film Salted Black Tea by Rakesh Ranjan shows how ingrained dangerous attitudes can be combated. It is about knowledge transfer and education.

Plot

The story is about a small tea stall owner named ‘Molly Chaiwala’ who works at night on a street in Guwahati. He is quite famous as he has some regular customers who appreciate his salted tea recipes. One day, a motorcyclist accompanied by his sister visits the stand and orders exotic black Assam tea. The motorcyclist is impressed by Molly’s tea-making style. But then a shocking truth comes to light.

Team

Rakesh Ranjan Das: Director, Writer, Producer
Subhajit Purkayastha: ‘Molly Chaiwala’
Steward Sangma: ‘Customer 1’
Gautam Sarkar: ‘Customer 2’
Rakesh Ranjan Das: ‘Driver’
Monalisa Das: ‘sister of the driver’
Sunny Bongshiary: ‘customer 3’

Runtime: 6 minutes 42 seconds
Release Date: 10 January 2025
Production Budget: $500
Country of Origin: India
Country of Shooting: India
Language: Hindi
Shooting Format: 35 mm
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Film colour: Colour
First feature: Yes
Student project: No

Director’s Biography – Rakesh Ranjan Das

Rakesh Ranjan Das was born and raised in Assam. He began his professional acting career in 2007 when he joined the Nexus Drama Group while completing his Bachelor of Engineering at SSIT Tumkur. The Nexus Group actively participated in festivals organised by the Engineering and Medical colleges and Rakesh won over 18 awards in skits, mime, one-act plays, street theatre and monodramas. He is currently a member of the Script Writer Association (SWA). In 2014, Rakesh took a screenwriting course from Kiran Roa and Aamir Khan. He is also a musician and has played in various Western rock bands in Bangalore, composing songs in Hindi and English. He appeared in two episodes of the famous Assamese television series ‘Beharbari Outpost’ in 2023. In October 2024, he played a supporting role in the Assamese feature film ‘Jai Hanuman’. He was one of the assistant directors of the Hindi feature film ‘Mrigayaa’, which is expected to be released in cinemas in 2025. In 2024, Rakesh played a supporting role in a short film called ‘Purple’, which was submitted for short film awards. ‘Salted Black Tea’ is the first film he directed, in December 2024, and will be submitted to various short film awards in 2025.