CAMKG

I have seen about 4000 movies in my life. And this is one of the best that I have ever seen. It is one of the most satisfying endings. Probably in the top 10 or 20 of all time. What a phenomenal love story. I saw it in Telugu with English subtitles. I don't speak Telugu. Have never been to Andhra or Telangana. But I connected with every single character in this movie. Their fate and their tragedies really affected me. But the ending had my crying tears of joy. No, more than that - tears of humanity. One of the best films ever. This should be seen by the world.

As I am writing this, about 5000 people have rated this film; 25% of them have rated it a 10. 50% of them have rated it a 9 or 8 and the remaining 25% have rated it a 7 or less.

I am not going to even bother with the bottom 25% - they exist to make life interesting and adventurous. The top 25%: glad you got it. The remaining 50% who rated it 8 or 9 - I ask you this humbly and earnestly: Why? Lets look at the film as objectively as in my opinion, I can.

The script of the film is excellent; no major glitches, hardly any minor ones, respect for the audience's intelligence, very authentic (if you happen to be familiar with the Delhi milieu, you will surely agree), multi-dimensional characters, 3 complete acts, extremely good dialogues.

Technically, as in cinematography, production design, art direction, sound, sfx, it has limited scope due to the script, but within that limited scope, very competent. The editing could perhaps have chopped off about 1-2 minutes in the pre-climax when there is a conflict in the protagonists' lives. The music is very apt for the tone and flow of the film, Paani Da Rang being my personal favourite.

Very ably directed by Soojit Sircar. He had a fantastic script to work with and his genius was in adhering to it. He has also done a brilliant job in his choice of actors. Ayushman Khurana, Anu Kapoor, Yami Gautam and Dolly Ahluwalia are the principal characters who have all done a fabulous job. But the diligence of Sircar lies in his choice of his supporting cast. There are at least another 20 speaking characters in the film and their competent characterization in writing and performing lends tremendous credibility to the film.

From a financial standpoint, the film was made on a very reasonable budget (Rs. 5 crore as per wikipedia) and marketed appropriately earning over 9 times the cost (again as per wikipedia). So the producers have done justice to their investors as well as distributors. Great balance of art and commerce.

Now, moving on to the heart from the brain, this film in my opinion is phenomenal. It is a great comedy not just for its laugh-off-your-chair moments, but for its numerous bring-a-smile-to-your-face moments and touch-your-heart moments.

In the world of films, most of us love categorization as per genres and this would fall into the feel-good comedies section at your DVD store or your online streaming website. And we are unfortunately programmed to think that feel-good is not worthy of a 10. There should be some larger-than-life greatness or a very grand idea about how to make the world a better place for a movie to be rated a 10.

I will just say this: (aside from the fact that as a healthy father married to the healthy mother of our healthy 8 month old grace from God baby girl, I balled my eyes out at the end of this 2 hour joyful bliss) Hrishikesh Mukherjee would have been very proud of Shoojit Sircar. Definitely the best of 2012 thus far.

I cried a few times. Some times when I remembered feeling like Stanley. Many a times when I remembered knowing somebody like Stanley.

In many ways, adults are less wise, more insecure and less resilient than kids - 9 year olds in this case. We seek pity, we are quick to judge and somewhere along the way we came to know reality through our lens of cynicism and apathy. Kids seem to get on with it, take people on face value and see reality as this manifestation of their own imagination.

In India, child labour is a reality and quite frankly in many parts of the world, some developed, some developing, to varying degrees, unchildlike acts of bonded labour, abuse and trafficking happen. But what is really worthy of a 10 is not that this film gets you thinking from your mind, but that it gets you feeling from your heart for this uncomplicated, slice-of-life story with child protagonists but I dare say extremely appropriate for adult audiences.

Amole Gupte has made a brilliant film, with a fantastic script, amazing photography from Amol Gole, an excellent ensemble cast including all of the kids. He translates his passion for cinema so exactingly on to the screen as a director. For his performance as Khadoos, he should be top contender for Best Villain Award at next year's "Some atrocious sponsor Flimsy Affair Awards".

This film reminded of a poem in the Hindustan Times some 20 years ago about 'Groan-Ups'. 10/10.