The Oscar Nominated ‘Anuja’ on Netflix Is Worth 20 Minutes of Your Time

With the Oscars quickly approaching, it’s no wonder movie fans are buzzing about this year’s nominees. As always, entertainment coverage focuses on the biggest controversies and the picks for the big five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay. As a result, films nodded in other categories don’t get nearly as much attention as they deserve. While finding time to watch every single movie nominated for 2025 is difficult, the best short films of the year can easily be added to your watchlist — and one of them is now streaming on Netflix.

Anuja, nominated for Best Live-Action Short Film, captivated audiences despite its 23-minute runtime. The coming-of-age short follows the emotional story of a nine-year-old genius named Anuja (Sadja Pathan) and her older sister Palak (Ananya Shanbhag). Struggling to make ends meet while working at a sweatshop in India, Anuja must decide between working with her sister and attending a private boarding school.

Written and directed by Adam J. Graves, the film expertly portrays the girls’ hardships while maintaining a hopeful tone. The team behind the short has now chosen Netflix to distribute it globally, so the very real story of millions of children worldwide being forced to work to live instead of being children can be told and, consequently, rectified.

What Is ‘Anuja’ About?

Netflix’s recent addition to its streaming catalog, Anuja, centers on the heartfelt story of a nine-year-old math prodigy as she illegally works at a garment factory with her older sister Palak in Delhi, India. As the short begins, viewers see Anuja called into the office of her boss, a cruel man named Mr. Verma (Nagesh Bhonsie). Her teacher is there confronting him about illicitly hiring Anuja when she should be in school. The teacher also explains that Anuja is special, qualifying for a boarding school entrance exam the following Tuesday at 8 AM.

All she needs is 400 rupees and time off — the latter something Mr. Verma will not allow. In fact, he threatens not only to fire Anuja if she attends, but Palak as well. Instead, he wants to use her prowess to help him with his company’s accounting, starting on Tuesday at 8 AM. In exchange, he’d increase her pay and Palak would keep her job. Fortunately, Palak understands the importance of education. This test is Anuja’s opportunity to escape poverty, so Palak helps her raise the money to pay its fee. However, Anuja cannot decide which path she wants to take.

The film poignantly captures the horrible conditions so many children face across the globe. Forced into child labor and out of school, viewers get to know the love and resiliency of its characters, who represent the real kids who must work just to survive. Anuja also revolves around the subject of opportunity. It’s a hard-hitting drama that highlights the lack of choice impoverished youth have by giving its protagonist an impossible one and also offers a necessary commentary on the darkness of economic oppression.

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What Does ‘Anuja’ Choose in the End?

Even after Palak and Anuja are able to raise the money needed to take the entrance exam, Anuja seems uninterested in the test if that means leaving her sister behind. However, as the short wraps up, audiences are left with that uncertainty instead of closure. The film’s final scenes show Palak sending Anuja off to school. After Palak heads to work, Anuja follows far behind. Viewers then see a series of shots showing Anuja’s teacher waiting outside for her, and Mr. Verma waiting in his office for her. Neither place ever shows Anuja there before the credits roll.

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The short never tells us what Anuja ultimately decides. Like many ambiguous endings from the past, the question is the answer. It doesn’t matter what choice Anuja makes, because the point is about the choice itself. Millions of children all over the world are forced to struggle through poverty and exploitative labor just to survive another day. Most will never be visited by a teacher professing their genius and trying to give them a better life. Most are stuck where they are without a choice in the first place. Thus, in the end, Anuja calls attention to the reality so many kids face without an opportunity to escape, in the hope that raising awareness will encourage others to help.

Shining a Spotlight on Child Exploitation

The filmmakers behind Anuja created the short in collaboration with Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT), a nonprofit that aids street and working children in Delhi. Producer Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project) explained to The Hollywood Reporter that SBT uses acting as a therapeutic tool to help these children live a life full of the care, dignity, health, and education necessary to fulfill their dreams. Anuja’s star, Sadja Pathan, is one of those children.

While Pathan has become familiar with acting through the trust’s vocational training programs, she hasn’t had any professional experience otherwise. Regardless, Kaling has high hopes for her, “[Pathan’s] so naturally gifted. I just saw that she was on a plane with her guardian, going to meet Priyanka, so that’s obviously incredibly exciting. I would work with her on one of my things. I’m really hoping she has financial security for the rest of her life.” To go from living and working on the streets of Delhi to starring in an Oscar-nominated short is an incredible feat. Hopefully, as more people see it, they’re inspired to uplift the trust, its crucial work, and expand its reach to provide help for other kids who need it, too.

Stream Anuja on Netflix now.