An ode to human spirit

William Faulkner said, “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things.

It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honour and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which has been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

Nagesh Kukunoor does exactly that with his latest outing. Even as everyone is caught up in the chaos of another film, he quietly squeezes into the multiplex this awesome ode to the human spirit.

Built substantially around two children the storyline is an eye opener to our size, scale and star-driven industry that a good film is about telling a story from your heart. After the hard hitting ‘Lakshmi’ he takes you on a wonderful journey ( a la ‘Mod’) through the desert sands of Rajasthan as also the unsullied hope of two orphan siblings fighting challenges, poverty, deserted roads and desert sands driven by the kinetic energy of hope.

From the huts of middle of nowhere in Rajasthan we have these two kids debate over the Khans on their long walk to school. The kids Pari (Hetal Gada) and her visually impaired brother Chotu (Krrish Chhabria) live with their indulgent uncle Dungaram (Vipin Sharma) and his wife (Gulfam Khan).

For Pari it is SRK while for Chotu it is Salman. ‘Dabangg’ is the last film he saw before a brief illness robbed him of his sight. News arrives that SRK is coming to nearby Jaisalmer for a film shoot. Drawn by a poster on eye donation featuring SRK the siblings believe that he is the answer to the problem.

Pari promises her kid brother vision by his ninth birthday on the ensuing October 2. They believe that a tread to Jaisalmer is the cost of the ophthalmic surgery for the young one. They set out.

Their experiences on the route makes for the script. The brave hearts run into a motley group of people at different stages of their journey and the chase of their mirage.

First a truck driver (Rishi Deshpande), than a tractor owner (Vijay Maurya), followed by Mata Shira Devi (Vibha Chibber), an American drifter, a gun wielding bhanjaran (Flora Saini), a soothsayer (Bharati Achrekar), a quixotic mechanic (Suresh Menon) and an enthusiastic motorcyclist (Rajeev Lakshman). They all come to play a role – some negative, mostly positive in helping the kids move on.

Like in the Balraj Sahni-starer ‘Naunihal’ where the orphan reaches out to Chacha Nehru in Delhi sadly on May 27, this twosome reach Jaisalmer on the day Shah Rukh leaves another location.

In less than two hours Nagesh not only takes you on a heart-warming journey through Rajasthan (not the glamorous one of JP Dutta) but showcases what stuff dreams and determination are made of.

Kukunoor chooses a perfect cast. No one tries. Everyone is. There are no stars, no images, just ordinary cliché defying players on the board.

It is a Kukunoor film. Not since Shekar Kapur (‘Masoom’ and ‘Mr. India’) do we have a filmmaker completely in peace with child actors. Viewers will do themselves a favour by investing a couple of hours in the theatre. It would be a combined salute to the human spirit and the wonderful talent of the cast and crew. Watch it to satisfy and certify your taste.

Cast : Hetal Gada, Krrish Chhabria, Vipin Sharma and Gulfam Khan
Direction : Nagesh Kukunoor
Genre : Drama
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