A little story with a big heart

Stanley Ka Dabba (2011)

Rating 3.6/5.0
Where 5.0 is a film which just has to be watched if you think classrooms are boring

Amol Gupte's Stanley Ka Dabba has some fantastic things going for it - the background score sans vocals is awesome (a Jazz inspired medley and a Pink Floydish piano score in a merry go-round - now this is what I want!); Gupte is very good with kids and that is apparent in their acting; unlike Taare Zameen Par, this film does not try every trick in the book to get tears out of you - it tells the story as it is and if you're not entertained or shed tears, too bad! On the flip side, the story is a 3 pager and Gupte has made a 90 min movie out of it and it gets apparent at times - you just wish some of the sub-plots like why doesn't the khadus teacher bring his own lunch could have been explored - that would have made it as interesting as The Blue Umbrella where Pankaj Kapur's character is explored with a sensitivity and detail that takes the film to an altogether different level; also the lyrics try to do what the movie doesn't - they try to guide you to feel in a certain way - and I don't like that....but that as I said is made up by the background score. Despite its flaws, Stanley ka Dabba is a must watch for anyone in the look out for a genuine, straight from the heart film which doesn't try to be Indie or different for fuck's sake - like Ye Saali Zindagi for example.

That brings me to YSZ, I finally watched it this weekend after all my friends had watched and recommended it. This movie sucks although Irrfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla have tried so hard to save it. YSZ is a "me too" film...and Mishra ji is hot on the heels of Guy Ritchie and closer home, Vishal Bahradwaj; hell bent on making another one of those thriller-comedy of errors (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Kaminey). The plot seems contrived most of the time, some of the events are so improbable (including Irrfan Khan transferring funds to from one bank account to another at free will!) that it seems Mishra thinks the audience are a bunch of morons who'll believe anything. Whatever good is there in the cast is under utilized....and from good I definitely don't mean Arunoday Singh who cannot be from purani Dilli even if his life depended on it or Chitragandha Singh who is like low grade, smelly plastic. Overall an attempt horribly gone wrong. Mishra should stick to what he knows best instead of trying to imitiate what has been done to perfection by others.

Whew! I hated that film so much (maybe because I expected too much from it) - its sort of cathartic to get that out! Thank God for this blog.