Stanley Ka Dabba

'Stanley Ka Dabba' is a GEM of a film. Writer-Producer-Director-Actor-Cinematographer, Amole Gupte, makes a film, that is soft, simple & seamless. It doesn't have superstars, it doesn't have chart-buster songs, it doesn't have stunning locales to boast....but what it has...is a Big Heart!

'Stanley Ka Dabba' is a nearly flawless film about a child, who comes to school without a Dabba. And as he can't get a Dabba, a greedy school teacher, who hogs from every Dabba in the school, kicks him out of the school. It's then Stanley's journey to get to back to school, with a Dabba!

'Stanley Ka Dabba' is one of the most moving, well-written & well-executed films in the past 5 years. It has a story to tell, it has it's heart at the very right place. Amole Gupte is truly a supremely talented personality. 'TZP', was a fabulous film, but 'Stanley Ka Dabba' is a nearly flawless cinema. Apart from it's slow-pace in the beginning, I found everything, in terms of writing, direction, acting, cinematography as well as the editing, to be super.

The Soundtrack is decent. Performance-Wise: Gupte, steals the show with a fascinating performance. He plays the greedy teacher, with perfect understanding and rare ease. Partho, who plays Stanley, is very sincere. Divvya Dutta is good. Raj Zutshi & all the other actors who portray the roles of the teachers, are first-rate.

On the whole, 'Stanley Ka Dabba' is amongst the best films in the past 5 years, as it has story to tell, which is simple, seamless & very interesting too. Don't Miss This One!

Instead of going into any comparison of this film with TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, I would like to talk about STANLEY KA DIBBA alone and the cinematic excellence achieved by its director Amol Gupte through his honest and sincere efforts. In few words, SKD is a very simple, sober and free of any gimmick kind of movie made on a sensitive subject related with child education. It is a soulful journey into the small world of the little masters, their truthful friendships, their innocent planning and their lovable concern for each other.

It reminds you of those carefree years spent in the early school days, when there was no tension, greed or cunningness in our hearts for each other. When we used to demand very funny things from the GOD with our eyes closed and hands folded. All those cherished moments of our loving school days are as it is there in STANLEY KA DABBA as if they have been shot with a hidden camera without being in the knowledge of all the children. And that's precisely how it was done by Amol Gupte, reportedly with a minimum technical crew barely visible and using the natural lights available to make every child feel comfortable in his own self. Indeed a highly appreciable task achieved by the Cinematographer Amol Gole and his director Amol Gupte which is clearly visible on the screen in its fabulous frames and striking close ups.

STANLEY KA DABBA needs to be treated a little more than a normal movie, since it brings forward an important issue of child education in our country. In fact there have been numerous documentaries made on this burning topic but for a complete commercial movie the plot has been used for the first time by an intelligent director, backed by a foreign production house.

The film starts off straight from the school premises and also ends right there. So in clear terms it deals more with the School, Classmates and the Teachers and has nothing to do with Parents and Home. Where the first half is very evenly paced taking you into the psyche of a struggling child, the second one goes a little slow but leads to a more solid thought provoking climax, which strikes you real hard.

Apart from its remarkable direction the second ace in STANLEY KA DABBA is the performance of all the kids in the movie. Lead by Partho as Stanley, who is also the son of director Amol Gupte, each and every child in the film is simply adorable. May be they are so natural in their act (without anything artificial) because their shooting was done in a very relaxed ambiance and that too only on Saturdays and Sundays in the form of a creative workshop. Partho is purely the soul of the film particularly in its final sequence which forces you to think about what you are doing for the cause personally.

Along with the kids, the teachers are equally worth watching lead by the director Amol Gupte himself in the role of Hindi teacher Verma Sir. Amol is just superb as the teacher obsessed with food and so is Divya Dutta as the English Teacher. Especially watch for them together in the scene where Divya makes Amol feel his mistake and repent. The other teachers in the staff played by Divya Jagdale, Raj Zuthsi and Rahul Singh also come up with their genuine efforts. In the soundtrack I really liked the Lyrics and Composition of "Tere Ander Bhi Kahin", "Life Bahot Simple Hai" and "Dekho Ik Nanhi Si Jaan Nikal Parhi". No doubt, a job well done by the Hitesh Sonik with the inspiring words of Amole Gupte himself. (However I really thought it was done by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy as the sound was quite similar to TZP.)

The film drags a little after a while because there is no story progression in its initial hours. The director very intelligently uses only suggestive scenes for the Big Competition sequence but still the stage performance could have been more colourful and energetic. Further I couldn't believe that in a Big Private reputed School, both the teachers and the Principal (after so many regular Parent Teacher Meetings) are not aware of the family status of a famous boy of their school and he continues to hide the facts from them for so long. Post interval the film may not be an entertaining fair for everyone particularly the children and you may find them acting a little restless in its final moments.

But more importantly, in reality this is not a children movie at all. In fact it's strictly for the grown-ups who actually are responsible for the current position of child education in our country. And in disguise it's also a tight slap for all of us who very well know the truth but still don't like to discuss or do something about the issue at our personal levels.

As a concerned person wishing to have a better society around me with more happy, cheerful and educated children in the future, I would like to say that just forget about the weak points mentioned by myself in the above lines. As an unbiased reviewer I had to do that but as an aware movie lover I would like to recommend this movie to every citizen of this country, of any age, caster or region. And would like to humbly request everyone to must watch STANLEY KA DABBA if you seriously want all the children in your family to have a better world to live in after we are all gone.

Way back while watching François Truffaut's "400 blows" a desire to watch a matured Indian film on a child protagonist cropped in my mind. Thanks to the changing wave of Indian cinema Aamir Khan gave us the brilliant Taare Zameen Par in 2007 which was the creation of Amol Gupte (He was the creative director of the film). In 2011 Amol Gupte came up with heart warming Stanley Ka Dabba which reflected the potential he had showed with the screenplay of TZP. Stanley Ka Dabba starts with a highly zoomed shot of a warm day with a school kid (that's Stanley superbly played by Partho) with bruised face, little shabby yet jubilant walking towards the camera. As he enters the school and changes the calendar followed by a sleepy moment of ecstasy within himself reflects the monotonous schedule of a lonely child who is happy with his own supposed peaceful existence. He is the star kid who is good at everything from books to ball without any air of arrogance. His friends and teachers all love him except Khadoos , an appropriate title given by the 4th standard student to their Hindi teacher Verma Sir (played by Amol Gupte). Verma sir is an unapologetic glutton who pounces on others tiffin (dabba) be it the teachers or students. The cold war between Verma and Stanley starts with later not bringing much awaited Dabba for Verma sir to pounce upon. With a beautiful cat-and-mouse game the student gang of Stanley makes Verma run all around the campus everyday till the group is caught red handed. Without revealing the climax it is the emotional journey without getting too filmy that touches the right chord. With Verma realizing his mistake to the oxymoron brutally sweet climax it keeps the viewer engaged and at the end one leaves the hall pondering on certain aspect of Indian society that needs to be taken care for freedom of more Stanleys in real life.

Amol Gupte made a path breaking debut with Stanley Ka Dabba which tells simple uncomplicated story even though it reflects a complicated story about some harsh Indian reality. To tell his story the writer (again Gupte himself) did a commendable job in creating few characters around which the story revolves and took his sweet time in creating each characters. The teachers are sketched out of reality. Rosi Miss (played beautifully by Divya Dutta) is the loving English teacher who is a lady with gentle heart is someone everyone of us again identify. Similarly there is a strict science teacher Mrs Iyer (played by Divya Jagdale) who is not among favorites. Each teacher has been given adequate screen time as needed in the screenplay. Verma Sir (aka Khadoos) is a well edged character and when one expect a filmy flashback on Verma sir's life the writer keeps it subtle making Verma a symbolic extension of Stanley (and different Stanleys in the society). But then to keep Stanley and Verma in the same plane would be blasphemous. While Stanley is symbolizes Friendship and humanity Verma reflects selfishness within.

The technical department played a crucial role in defining the mood of the theme with fabulous use of camera(DOP by Amol Gole) that zooms in amateurishly to speak about the restlessness with Stanley's character or in the scene where Verma Sir looks at the dabba. The scene reflects Dabba being an important character in the narrative. Deepa Bhatia does a commendable job in the editing department and same goes to the sound designer who specially during the rehearsal sequences uses right beats of guitar telling us about the joy inside Stanley. The music is effective by Hitesh Sonik who uses the right instruments for respective moods added to it awesome lyrics by Amol Gupte again to add on to the cream. Specially "apne andar kahin chupa hai ek Stanley" the lyrics speaks some thousand sentences. And the poems in the film are intelligently human that reminded me of the marvelous poem in another masterpiece film Udaan. (like Udaan I sincerely hope Stanley too wins lots of awards in film festivals and awards)

Amol Gupte avoided filmy clichés and forced emotions while writing the story. He didn't go overboard and in his own lethargic space creates a beautiful world of Stanley and provides a cushion of happiness for the audience. But then suddenly in the flight of happiness he punches hard with a thudding twist that breaks the cushion. Yet the end is optimistic and about hope. The movie didn't come with a sledgehammer and all to tell audience about some problem instead it just tells a story about a sweet child n his problem n how he moulded his life to live in an innocent and optimistic way. A heart warming tale of friendship and belonging that makes "Stanley Ka Dabba" a must watch.

The film as its subtitle says is a small film with a big heart.It is the true family entertainer. A kind of film that school kids should see to find themselves on the screen and grown ups should see for nostalgic feeling of school days.

The film, according to me is a gem because it doesn't try to be extra - ordinary or path breaking. The film remains simple, realistic and naive. The film is just like a new born baby.No lime lights or publicity stunts were done to promote the film and thats why I love it even more.

The director "Amole Gupte" (deserves the respect I have for him) has his own good story to tell which is funny (or witty) but really impulses you in the end when a simple message is conveyed in the most beautiful way!

Beautiful is the word to describe the performances.The kiddo is already a star.Amole Gupte has proved it once again that he is in the same league of Naseeruddin Shah or Irfan Khan, and he has his own place in the heart of Bollywood.

Story is simple yet touchy.Looks as if all the emotions of a school kid are portrayed beautifully on a celluloid.Screenplay is strong and never distracts us from the main track despite of many strong sub plots.

Music is very good and suits the movie. Background score thumps the movie and helps in making it a heartthrob movie.

The film deserves a 5* but it would be a quite heavy tag to carry for a simple and innocent movie.A gracious 4.5* will be suitable.But above all, this film should not be missed at any condition!

I am glad that the movie is not Taare Zameen Par kind of film.Here is no dirty game of snatching credits and above all, no stars try to super- impose over each other ( yes main stream actors like Amole Gupte and Divya Datta are present).

The film will be cherished in my mind for a long time, Thanks Stanley!

Stanley Ka Dabba - a plain storyline, with the regular Indian school setup and largely unfamiliar cast - is a well-scripted,well-characterized brilliantly directed movie that leaves you with an immediate freshness that rarely many movies can do.

Its the story of Stanley, a 4th standard student in a missionary school. Stanley and many of his friends are the quintessential restless,playful and curious kids. They play,share stories,learn together and yes share their "Dabbas" (lunch boxes)-the central plot of the movie,as you can make out from the title. The story is pretty straight-forward here on. You have the different characters in the teachers. A strict and no-nonsense science teacher, A beautiful and encouraging English teacher. However the teacher who takes the cake(quite literally:) ) is the ever-hungry and mean Hindi teacher(Amol Gupte).

the movie never loses its flavour, displaying with beauty the innocence and puerile nature of the kids and the rhythmic monotony of everyday school that we've all been part of.

Amol Gupte has definitely made one of the best kids-oriented movies in the Indian cinema sphere. Not only is the direction top-notch, he has even acted brilliantly as the insatiably hungry teacher,who shows no shame in eating out of his students' lunch boxes. Special praises to Partho who has done such amazing work as Stanley, and Divya Dutta who just by her sheer screen presence brings in positivity to the frame.

When i saw the title and even until the movie started playing in the theater, I thought this was a children's movie.But soon realized it was a wrong notion. This movie is as much for adults as is for the kids.If you want a break from the regular humdrum of Hindi cinema and want to see meaningful cinema without the preachiness (like Taare Zameen Par) then go watch Stanley Ka Dabba, cause u wont be disappointed. Kudos to Amol gupte for taking the viewers on a nostalgic trip back to school and special mention on how dexterously the message has been woven into the story.