Movie review - 'Stanley ka Dabba'
I recently watched the movie 'Stanley ka Dabba' (SKD) and here is my review of the movie. In short, SKD is a finely made film highlighting an important social issue and the movie succeeds in doing just that and it does smartly as well.
This aspect is very important in a country like ours where pertinent issues like corruption, policy reforms are high jacked in a jiffy by things like IPL or 'Shiela ki jawani' song.
You might ask which social issue does it discuss.. but sorry i can't reveal it for I would kill the suspense element in SKD on why Stanley can't bring his dabba (lunch box). So I would leave it for you to discover.
SKD carefully avoids the common pitfalls in movies of this genre - by not treating the audience condescendingly for turning a blind eye to the issue; otherwise go over the top and preach moral and ethics to the viewers; maybe try to offer some half baked glossy feed good solutions which seldom takes a holistic view of the issue, while never analyzing the practical feasibility of what is offered.
On drawing comparisons with Taare Zameen Par (TZP) whose writer and creative director also happens to be Amol Gupte writer, director of SKD, I want to paraphrase him - TZP addressing the issue of dyslexia though it says 'every child is special' yet it addressed a story of a boy Ishaan Awasthi having a great talent for drawing, and painting. Ever wondered about a dyslexic kid with no such special talent! In SKD, Stanley is a kid with no special talent and yet he is special because every child is so..! My personal opinion, allowing for some latitude to a small loop hole in the plot of SKD, both SKD and TZP are excellent movies addressing important children issues. Yet I feel it is difficult to compare them on par maybe since the issues that they address are very different.
The duo of khadoos (played by director Amol Gupte) and stanley (by his son Partho Gupthe) and their fight for winning over the friends food is a real fun to watch until khadoos shows why he is rightly called so. Only at the end of the movie I realized that for stanley it was not a duel or who wins the game but it was a fight for his dignity and his right to be loved not because of his situation but since it is every child's right!
The movie got it right - 'a small movie with a big heart'. I can say firmly say that Amol Gupte is a gem of a movie director. and I eagerly await his next film!
You might ask which social issue does it discuss.. but sorry i can't reveal it for I would kill the suspense element in SKD on why Stanley can't bring his dabba (lunch box). So I would leave it for you to discover.
SKD carefully avoids the common pitfalls in movies of this genre - by not treating the audience condescendingly for turning a blind eye to the issue; otherwise go over the top and preach moral and ethics to the viewers; maybe try to offer some half baked glossy feed good solutions which seldom takes a holistic view of the issue, while never analyzing the practical feasibility of what is offered.
On drawing comparisons with Taare Zameen Par (TZP) whose writer and creative director also happens to be Amol Gupte writer, director of SKD, I want to paraphrase him - TZP addressing the issue of dyslexia though it says 'every child is special' yet it addressed a story of a boy Ishaan Awasthi having a great talent for drawing, and painting. Ever wondered about a dyslexic kid with no such special talent! In SKD, Stanley is a kid with no special talent and yet he is special because every child is so..! My personal opinion, allowing for some latitude to a small loop hole in the plot of SKD, both SKD and TZP are excellent movies addressing important children issues. Yet I feel it is difficult to compare them on par maybe since the issues that they address are very different.
The duo of khadoos (played by director Amol Gupte) and stanley (by his son Partho Gupthe) and their fight for winning over the friends food is a real fun to watch until khadoos shows why he is rightly called so. Only at the end of the movie I realized that for stanley it was not a duel or who wins the game but it was a fight for his dignity and his right to be loved not because of his situation but since it is every child's right!
The movie got it right - 'a small movie with a big heart'. I can say firmly say that Amol Gupte is a gem of a movie director. and I eagerly await his next film!
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