Stanley Ka Dabba is Delicious!!

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Movie - Stanley Ka Dabba (Hindi)
Writer/Producer/Director - Amole Gupte
Cast - Partho, Numan, Abhishek, Amole Gupte, Divya Dutta, Divya Jagdale, Raj Zutshi
Director of Photography - Amol Gole
Music & Background Score - Hitesh Sonik
Editor/Co-Producer - Deepa Bhatia
Production Designer - Sheetal Bapardekar
Sound Designers - Dwarak Warrier & Madhu Apasara
Release Date - 13th May 2011

In between all the star studded extravagances and mindless masala movies, comes Bollywood's first true-blue independent cinema Stanley Ka Dabba spreading a beautiful aroma and so many smiles around. Amole Gupte, whose brainchild Taare Zameen Par blew our minds and hearts not so long ago, scores yet again with his directorial debut. An original, genuine, sincere, simple and beautiful film, which is all heart - that is Stanley Ka Dabba. 

Stanley (Partho) is an enthusiastic and multi-talented child studying in Std IV F of Holy Family High School along with his friends Abhishek (Abhishek), Aman Mehra (Numan) & party. While all his friends feast on their dabbas during lunch breaks, Stanley doesnt bring a dabba and usually gets his share of lunch from his cool friends, most of whom are fans of him, and his stories. Trouble comes in the form of the terrifying Khadoos Varma (Amole Gupte), their Hindi teacher, who takes pleasure on eating food from others' dabbas, be it his students or his colleagues in the staff room. Stanley Ka Dabba effectively captures the routine school life of these children and their fight against the villain in their lives - the Khadoos Hindi teacher; and gives a shocking jolt by the end, which makes us see the entire film once again in another perspective. 

Amole Gupte is a brilliant storyteller, which was evident from his first screenplay Taare Zameen Par (which he was directing, until Aamir Khan took over). Stanley Ka Dabba is similar to TZP in many ways, yet so drastically different. Both films are essentially about children, and both tackle serious issues without being preachy as well and the similarity ends there. Stanley Ka Dabba makes us revisit the times when going to school, learning things, eating lunch with friends, getting a chocolate from the teacher, playing football during breaks and such small things were the biggest pleasures in life. School was such an important part of the growing up years of every single one of us and Amole Gupte takes us back to one of the classes in primary school and makes us feel like we're one among the students there. The film, which was shot completely on a digital still camera (Canon 7D, its the first mainstream Hindi film to use this technology) over weekends and vacations without disturbing the classes of any of its child actors, has captured the children at their most candid of moments, which makes the film so strikingly real and at the same time, enjoyable. None of the performances look like a performance, and never do you get a sense that what you are watching is actually a film which was written and made by a bunch of people over a period of time. You are sucked into the world of Stanley and his friends that you forget about everything else. Very rarely can a filmmaker achieve this. 

Partho is a brilliant actor. Amole Gupte's son proves that he might be as talented as his father at this young age itself. Those who loved Darsheel Zafary's Ishaan Nandakishore Awasthi, would adore Partho's Stanley Fernandez. Stanley is the complete opposite of whatever Ishaan was and he wins our heart right from the second he does his own version of Vishal Bhardwaj's Dhan Te Nan in the beginning of the film. Partho plays the enthusiastic, wide-eyed, talented and cute Stanley so beautifully that you cant help falling in love with the child. This is the best performance you would've come across in a Hindi film in a long long time and the best part is that it doesnt even look like its a performance. Partho is Stanley for everyone watching the film. Numaan Sheikh plays the chubby little Aman Mehra, the rich, but sweet kid who brings the tallest of dabbas and loves to share it with his buddies. Abhishek Reddy reminds you of your best buddy during school who would stand by you no matter what. The rest of the children are all so good that many of our leading men should take acting lessons from them. Anyone who has had the experience of shooting with children would vouch that it is one of the toughest things to do, but Amole Gupte has extracted some wonderful performances from a whole bunch of kids, which is indeed an enormous task. 

Divya Dutta plays the super-sweet English teacher whom Stanley has a major crush on. Lovely is too small a word to desrcibe her in the movie. Every grown up would have memories of a strict, no-nonsense and sarcastic teacher like the South Indian Science teacher Mrs Iyer, played perfectly by Divya Jagdale. And then there is the director Amole Gupte himself, playing the film's antagonist Khadoos Varma, who is as villainous as any of our iconic Hindi film villains, even when he snatches food from unsuspecting kids and teachers. His Varma actually mirrors Stanley's situation, but leaning towards the negative side of it. After Kaminey, Phas Gaye Re Obama and the Malayalam film Urumi, we get to see the wonderful actor having a ball playing a great character whom we feel both hatred and sympathy towards, at the same time. And then there's Raj Zutshi in a delightful cameo giving food for thought for Gupte's character. 

The routine school lives become so lively and energetic through Deepa Bhatia (Gupte's wife)'s clever and fantastic editing. Amol Gole, the director of photography has used the wonderful Canon 7D to its maximum potential and has captured children so beautifully and realistically, without many of them even noticing that they were being shot by a camera. Mixed with some real good DI work, nowhere does the film look like its been shot on a digital format, leave alone a still camera. This experiment has the power to revolutionize independent cinema in India and encourage more and more filmmakers to start making movies with the lowest of budgets. The film was shot completely on natural and ambient light which makes it look completely real. Dwarak Warrier & Madhu Apasara have captured the sound on location since it would be an enormous task to get all those kids to dub their lines; and they have done a great job with the sound design. Music by Hitesh Sonik is wonderful and the songs seamlessly fit into the narrative, thereby enhancing it. 

The charm of Stanley Ka Dabba lies in its simplicity and the nuances which the director has used to convey emotions through his characters. The ending might give you a shock, but yes, its a true fact which makes one think, after smiling throughout the movie. As the caption says, its a small story with a big heart. And this movie doesnt have the support or backing of a superstar like Aamir Khan, so its the responsibility for lovers of good and independent cinema to see to it that the film gets the viewership, success and recognition it deserves. And please dont deprive your children from the joy of seeing this movie. Make this film your vacation treat for your kids and its a given fact they would completely adore it. Rarely does a film which is so sincere and full of heart like this gets made in Hindi Cinema. Make sure you catch it immediately. The father & son are sure to win your hearts. 

To put it in Rosy Miss' words - 'Stanley, You Rock! ;-)'

P.S. - Carry lots of food with you when you watch this movie, it would come in handy, trust me. ;)

Bottomline - A heartwarming film which would make you smile throughout, and leave you with a lump in your throat by the end. MUST WATCH!!

Dhobi Ghat leaves you unsatisfied.

Movie - Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) [Hindi, partly English]
Director - Kiran Rao
Producers - Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao
Cast - Prateik, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra & Aamir Khan
Cinematography - Tushar Kanti Ray
Music - Gustavo Santaolalla
Editor - Nishant Radhakrishnan
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Kiran Rao
Release Date - 21st January 2011

Aamir Khan Productions was always associated with different and quality cinema and they had maintained that even in a commercial venture like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, and during the promotions of Dhobi Ghat, Aamir was quite insistent that Dhobi Ghat is not your regular mainstream cinema, it belongs to the arthouse genre and is meant to watched seriously. He was quite right as Dhobi Ghat is not your regular movie. It is more about the city of Mumbai rather than a plot or its main characters. But the problem with the movie is that it never really grows beyond that, and remains an ode to the city which leaves one unsatisfied with the experience. 

Dhobi Ghat tells the story of four people - Munna (Prateik), a dhobi by day and a rat killer by night (he also has another embarrassing job, which if revealed would be a spoiler); Shaai (Monica Dogra), an NRI investment banker on a sabbatical to do her own thing of photographing of 'poor India, hungry India' in black & white; Arun (Aamir Khan) a reclusive artist who runs away from relationships and people as such, but intrigued by a discovery of a Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra)'s newly-wed life in Mumbai recorded on DV tapes as letters to her brother, which she never sent. And then there's the fifth character- the city of Mumbai itself which is the most important of all of them, as the movie is all about the effect the city has on these people. 

The movie begins as a romanticized account of the city of Mumbai and tries to shock us by showing the grim reality of the city by the end of its narrative. I'm not quite sure if that is the theme that Kiran Rao wanted to portray through this movie. There are way too many coincidences and the four different characters distinctly different by class and societal statuses, keep bumping into each other quite often in the movie. So many coincidences are hard to believe in a movie which is supposed to be realistic. Even the slight shocks that the director tries to give by the end of the movie does not really come across as shocking to the audience as it was already predictable. Even the underworld angle which is included towards the end of the movie does not fit into the movie. The major problem with the film is that its story does not have enough meat to be a feature film, even though its running time is just 95 minutes. 

But there are many other things that work in the film. First of all, the beautiful portrayal of India's busiest city in all its glory, shot at locations and angles which filmmakers havent explored prior to this one. Tushar Kanti Ray's exceptional camerawork gives a new perspective to the city of Mumbai - its busy streets, its beaches, its people, its monsoons and its dark nights. The video diary format used as part of Yasmin's excitement in moving to Mumbai was another great touch. There are some wonderful moments in the movie - like the one where Shaai's maid brings chai for the dhobi in an ordinary glass while its a porcelain cup for Shaai; Shaai's photoshoot for Munna who aspires to be Salman Khan someday;  the one where Munna chases her car towards the end of the movie and the shock on Arun's face when he's done with Yasmin's tapes. All these are great cinematic moments, but they are far in between in this slowly-paced movie. 

The performances are fantastic. There should be no more discussions or questions if Ranbir or Imran is the future, it is Prateik. This guy has enormous screen presence and that is something everybody realized with his delightful cameo in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na itself. As the dhobi Munna who lives multiple lives, Prateik is so natural and much at ease with his character. He definitely has inherited his acting genes from his exceptionally talented mother Smita Patil and there is ample evidence for that in his performance. Monica Dogra is wonderful and her subtle portrayal of Shaai who wants to explore the city on one hand and extend her relationship with Arun beyond a one-night stand was extremely effective. Kriti Malhotra was endearing, and during most of her screen time, she is talking directly to the camera thereby engaging the viewers in a direct way. Aamir Khan is not Aamir Khan, the superstar in this movie. He is just one among the characters in the movie, the one with the least dialogues and his restraint throughout the movie makes his character seem very real. The audience get to see a different Aamir Khan in the movie, stripped of all his superstar glory by his wife in her debut film. And of course, the brilliant actor gets to show off his acting capability in a great moment towards the climax, something which we already discussed. 

We've already talked about how effective the cinematography of the film is. In fact, even when the film turns out to be really tedious, the cinematography is what keeps our interest. The musical score by Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) elevates the movie and haunts you much after you leave the hall. Nishant Radhakrishnan could have made much difference in this multiple narrative story with his editing, but his editing hardly has any effect except for some very interesting cut-to-cut edits. The black & white still photographs of Mumbai are brilliant, but we've seen such stuff so many movies the latest being Wake Up Sid. The final painting done by Arun inspired by Yasmin's life is some form of modern art which is very difficult for the ordinary public (including me) to comprehend. 

On the whole, Dhobi Ghat is the love-child of Kiran Rao's love to the city of Mumbai. It fails to rise above that many a times and remains a weak screenplay which could have done with a little more drama and a concrete plot. It has some wonderful moments, has terrific work by the technical crew and flawless performances by its four leads. It is unusual, and not meant for the regular cinema going crowd. And by the end of it all, it leaves you unsatisfied despite having great potential. 

Rating - 3/5

PEEPLI [Live]

Movie - Peepli [Live] (Hindi)
Director - Anusha Rizvi
Producer - Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Ronnie Screwvala
Cast - Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghubir Yadav, Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Naseeruddin Shah, Vishal Sharma Sitaram Panchal and others.
Music - Indian Ocean, Brij Mandal, Bhadwai, Nageen Tanvir, Ram Sampat
Cinematography - Shanker Raman
Editor - Hemanti Sarkar
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Anusha Rizvi
Release Date - 13th August 2010




The name Aamir Khan attached to any film in any possible manner creates a huge buzz. Peepli Live is his fourth production after Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. The first two are 2 of the best films ever made in the country and the last one was a fun romantic comedy which worked wonders at the box office. So when he comes up with a project like Peepli Live, which has literally no stars, with a debutante director and a completely offbeat script, the curiosity levels certainly go pretty high. And yes, Aamir hasnt gone wrong this time also as he delivers a fantastic, quality product from his production house yet again, which could easily feature among the best Hindi films made in recent times. 

Official Synopsis - ‘Peepli Live’ is a satire, which revolves around a villager from Central India called Natha,his brother Budhia and their family. The family is about to lose their land because they are unable to repay a loan, when, they hear of a government programme which offers the family of any farmer committing suicide a compensation of rupees 100,000. The older brother convinces his sibling into agreeing to commit suicide. This sets in motion a chain of events which finds Natha in the eye of a storm. The local big wigs, the state government, high ranking bureaucrats, federal ministers and the national media all become stakeholders in the mad circus that erupts. This is the story of India today. Rural society, the bureaucracy, media, politics and life . . 

Peepli Live tackles three major issues - the plight of the farmers in Central India; the race between the media professionals for higher TRPs and the indifferent attitude of our bureaucrats - both central and state. Anusha brilliantly touches upon all these issues without going overboard in this social satire. Even when you're laughing out loud at the fantastic jokes, the movie makes you think about the issues that are being addressed through those jokes, and that is the success of this film. 

The electronic media is strongly criticized in the film and shows the heights that the journalists go to get that one exclusive story, before their competitors. One of the reporters of a Hindi news channel in the movie even goes to the extent of analysing Natha's faeces for the sake of a story. Not one bit of exaggeration, as the electronic media today are already doing much more than this for the sake of TRPs. But there is at least one character among the journalists who genuinely feels about the issue and refrains from sensationalizing it after a point. The scene where the local reporter Rakesh and the high-profile English reporter Nandita talk about the media circus that is happening, is perhaps the best written scene in the film. The director surely knows the inside workings of the media, having been a journalist herself and has taken some fantastic digs at two of the most popular TV reporters in the country - one in Hindi and one in English. The politicians are not spared either. All the different games they play to capitalize on the issue are brought out very well. The movie does not try to give a solution to the issue. Instead, it makes us think about how sad the state of affairs in our country is, while entertaining us through some smart comedy. The climax was perfect and there couldnt have been a better culmination for a film like this.  

Omkar Das Manikpuri is the life of this film. Even though he hardly has any dialogues, Natha's desperation, confusion, fear and a plethora of emotions is brought out through his expressions mostly, rather than depending on dialogues to do the same. Raghubir Yadav is first-rate as the manipulative Budhiya who forces Natha to make the decision of committing suicide. Malaika Shenoy as the fierce, competitive English reporter is spot on. Nawaazuddin Siddiqui as Rakesh, the sole sensible person among the entire media circus is excellent. Vishal Sharma as the over-the-top Hindi reporter Kumar Deepak who is willing to go to any heights (or lows) for a story is fantastic. Naseeruddin Shah as the shrewd agricultural minister is as usual, amazing. And two of the film's best performances come from the bed-ridden, foul-mouthed mother of Natha played by Farrukh Jaffer and her nagging bahu played by Shalini Vatsa. Eacn and every one among the rest of the cast is brilliant and not for one second do you feel that those people are actually acting. 

Anusha's script is tight, concise and has a fantastic flow throughout. There are so many jokes that you have to concentrate really well to get all of them. The dialect spoken is tough to follow in the beginning but you get acquainted to it as the movie progresses. And yea, there are so many expletives in the dialogues, but that makes them more real. Anusha makes a confident debut and delivers a film which even the most experienced of filmmakers would find difficult to make. And thanks to a producer like Aamir Khan who makes sure that this film gets all the attention that it deserves, which might not have happened without his name being attached to it. We need more producers like him who can identify good cinema, invest money in making them and make people come and watch them. 


Shanker Raman's cinematography is superb, giving the video feel and the docu-drama feel wherever necessary. Hemanti Sarkar's editing is almost perfect. The earthy music by various artistes suits the theme of the film very well. 'Des Mera' by Indian Ocean is brilliant, so is 'Mehngai Dayain', the folk song which talks about the rising expenses. 

On the whole, Peepli Live is a film that has to be watched. Its a film that makes us laugh at ourselves as a country. Its a film which makes us think about so many issues. Its a film which is hilarious from the word go. Its a film which marks the debut of a fantastic filmmaker called Anusha Rizvi. Its a film which reaffirms that Aamir Khan is the best producer a film can get in our country. Its a film filled with fantastic performances. Its a a very important film which deserves a tax-free status. And finally, its one of the best films that has come out in recent times. More than perfect to watch during the Independence Day weekend. 


Rating - 4/5