Celebrating human spirit

This is Amole Gupta’s answer to Doug Atchison and as near as Bollywood could aspire to get near ‘Akeelah and the Bee’- a wonderful film to which I was introduced by a cineaste of very high order. It is a celebration of the human spirit and the power to convert your dreams into reality. It is about a young boy from a chawl whose world comes alive as others live his dreams and others their fantasies. The little boy who dreams and also lives the dreams of his sports coach ends the victor. But that is the superficial part of the tale. To, however, continue it at that level, we have Arjun Harishchandra (Partho Gupte), a child all of 15, who is required to take up the job of a chaiwallah as his mother (Neha Joshi) unwillingly witnesses, to keep the kitchen fire burning. His dad (Makarand Deshpande) has left behind many mouths to feed in a one room tenement in Dharavi. As Arjun is vending tea he notices the children of the very rich and the also the ambitious middle class come by and let their children train for skating. Their trainer Ankiet Bharghav- Lucky (Saqib Saleem) returns with an injury from a road accident with bro (Anuj Sachdev) who is an investment banker in the USA. Arjun has a gang of four friends – all social outsiders- Gochi (Bismillah Khan), Bhura (Salman Khan), Abdul Maaman Menon) and Murugan (Thirupathi Krishnapelli). One a motor mechanic, one a rag picker, one a jardosi worker and another a jasmine flower vendor. When Arjun dreams of becoming a skater, the friends join him and quickly realise that buying skates is beyond them. They then pick up waste and recycle it to a pair of skates. Arjun’s skill sets get noticed by Lucky who is willing to give up a long promised trip to the USA for the sake of the little boy and train him to being a champion.

From being Ekalavya he becomes the Arjun in a script that sometimes draws you out of the theatre and treats you to life. It gnaws you with life teaching experiences. Surely a piece of fiction but is also about a game changer who is a long run rule maker. Life may be an altogether different comfort (?) zone but without the pulpit it tells you that if you to push if you want to fly, dive if you want to swim and dare if you care to dream. As a product of the Grit and Spirit Club he works his energies towards his natural talent.

There we go, after weeks of romance, revenge saga, political dramas and sitcoms here is fresh breeze a la the rains in summer. In a world where adults hijack the dreams and aspirations of their wards, we also have kids who are naïve enough to even ask what do you mean by goals, and another who says: Uperwallah jahan patka wahin se chalna shurukiya. This is not ‘Chak De’, ‘Laagan’, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ or ‘Goal’. This is a slice of life saga built on the dreams of a boy from Dharavi. Woven around kids without malice it is devoid of those heavy duty dialogues and hate-filled moppet tales we are fed with.

It needlessly navigates through a ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ moment where drama turns into melodrama in the finale. Every one performs with a commitment that makes the film a high quality experience. When did you last see a ‘children film’ and walk out with wet eyes an awakened conscience? Here is an experience worth taking alongside your family and do not miss it for anything. Most importantly, it entertains and also puts things in perspective.