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Wednesday, May 8, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD STANLEY KA DABBA
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ****
A sparkling gem of a film, if ever there was one, Stanley Ka Dabba
is the sort of rare and precious look at the world of a child as seen aeons ago
in Satyajit Ray`s Apur Sansar or his short-film Pikoo`s
Diary. Closer in time, there was Taare Zameen Par with which
Amole Gupte was profoundly associated.
Stanley Ka Dabba goes far deeper into the mind of a male child. This
time, the endeavour is not to milk the child`s deficiencies for tears. In
Stanley… Gupte looks for and finds an enormously engaging and
humane story in the normal tenor of a 10-year old boy`s school life.
Stanley and his friends, as played by Partho and a group of absolutely
unaffected children, come across as utterly normal creatures of classroom
caprice. If as we have been told, these young boys are trained to face the
camera, then the training doesn`t show at all.
The skill that has gone into the performances is so subtle and the artifice in
their performances so minimal, the boys come across as children of a lesser
fraud.
The screenplay is almost Chekhovian in mood. The school premises where we meet
Stanley and his friends becomes a playground for a sharp and savagely satirical
power-play between the endearing and popular Stanley and his mean-minded Hindi
teacher (Amole Gupte, lending a mouth-watering fluency to his part).
Around the teacher and the taught there emerges a plot that is tender and taut,
slender but nonetheless resonant in its comment on what it means to be a growing
child in an increasingly-competitive society.
Gupte fills the canvas of his richly but delicately layered canvas with
characters who make a strong impression in no time at all.
If the teachers appear caricatural, it`s the nature of their job. Especially
heartwarming is Divya Dutt as the archetypal Catholic teacher Miss Rosy. Playing
an emphatic echo of Simi Garewal`s character in Raj Kapoor`s Mera Naam
Joker, Divya brings immense warm to the staffroom table.
It is in the way that Gupte weaves the theme of school rules into the rituals of
tiffin breaks that the storyteller`s skills surface with deviousness and
delicacy. These vignettes from school life are derived from first-hand
experiences in the playground of children`s minds. The fears and insecurities of
the growing child, the fierce bonding among the boys in and out of the classroom
and the cordon that comes up when the youngsters` school of solidarity is
threatened by predatory instincts…
Stanley Ka Dabba lays open a world of innocent and premature pains.
It`s a universe created out of great conviction and warmth. And yet, there is a
surprising absence of self-consciousness in the way the lives of the boys are
drawn in and out of the classroom.
The narrative is buoyed by brilliant use of stage devices such as musical pieces
that encircle the characters` lives like colourful strings of paper decoration
at a children`s birthday party. The festive mood is maintained even towards the
conclusion when the utterly disarming Stanley`s dark secret is revealed.
We know he will get out of the gloom. He is that sort of a brave and invincible
child. This is that sort of an optimistic and upbeat view of lives that need
nurturing, not preaching or pontifying.
Without getting preachy for even a second, Stanley Ka Dabba makes a
telling point on what it means to be a child in a world where children are often
attacked by those who are meant to protect them. It takes tremendous fortitude
to make a film that doesn`t treat children with kid gloves. Writer-director
Gupte just lets them be.
The children blossom into recognizable endearing characters within the film`s
restricted playing-time.
No, all is not lost. There is still reason for immense hope and happiness in
life and in cinema. Stanley Ka Dabba proves it. Among its many
exceptional virtues, the one that stands out the most is the performance of
Partho in the title role. Before watching him, it was impossible to believe a
child could bring so much understated emotion into his character. Now after
watching Partho, it would be very difficult to watch other child actors attempt
a similar threshold of emotive expression.
But leave that some other time. For now, savour the goodies in Stanley Ka
Dabba. The flavours that waft across the school corridors are not
unfamiliar to us. And yet, when was the last time we saw a school and students
that seemed to have forgotten the existence of a camera while shooting what is
at the end of the day, a film?
Stanley Ka Dabba is a wicked and poignant journey into the soul of a
child. At once clever and artless it effortlessly takes cinema about child
psychology out of the box. The tiffin box.
Filmmaker Amole Gupte, former chairperson of Children's Film Society, India (CFSI), says youngsters are leading a lonely life that drives them to engage with the virtual world. He says it can be dangerous for their future.Read More
'Stanley Ka Dabba' goes globe trottingFilmmaker Amole Gupte's "Stanley Ka Dabba", which has garnered a lot of critical acclaim, will now travel to 10 international film festivals.Read More
Imagine this boy in your mind`s eye. He arrives in school much before any of his classmates to drum away his blues on empty benches. He stuffs himself with water instead of the nutritious food that his schoolmates relish during the lunch break. He covers up for his lack of social rank with the finesse of the most seasoned diplomat. Who is this child? What is he like? Why is he anything like he is? Wouldn`t you like to know? Meet Stanley, the protagonist of the much awaited `Stanley Ka Dabba
`Stanley Ka Dabba` is the latest offering from the insightful writer-director, Amole Gupte that throws light on the everyday life of a school going child. The character, Stanley, tugs at your heartstrings with his indomitable spirit, while warding off the hostile world he is surrounded by at all times, everywhere. The film reveals how this is child-soldier, rises above his choking real life situation on the way setting a template for all whiners to learn from, even emulate.
Like most others his ilk, Stanley loves to be amongst friends and win the appreciation of his peers and colleagues. He uses his sparkling wit and innocent wisdom to impress everyone he touches. At times spinning-a-yarn amongst friends about his mother`s flight, while on occasion conjuring some heartfelt poetry to impress the lovely English teacher, Rosy Miss (Divya Dutta). There are though teachers like the pungent Science Madam, Ms Iyer (Divya Jagdale) whose rigid beliefs smother Stanley`s innovative science experiment with all the contempt at her disposal. Then there is the gluttonous Hindi master, Verma Sir (Amole Gupte) who emerges as the catalyst in helping the boys bond for Stanley`s dignity and rightful place in the school.
The camaraderie between the boys comes to the fore when they thwart Verma Sir`s desperate attempts to polish off their dabbas with all the guile at their disposal. The gang makes the `invincible` Verma show his true vulnerable self for once as he marches from one possible hideout to another in the school premises trying to binge upon their home made food.
Stanley, the little protagonist of Amole Gupte`s, latest film `Stanley Ka Dabba` shows how, like the proverbial lotus, can one rise above all the filth around and make the world a better, beautiful place to live in.
The way he goes about bringing cheer to his colleagues and his little friends is what makes him the Stanley we all need to be in today`s day and age. Wise and sensitive, loving and mischievous: living every moment as if there is no tomorrow.
