Chanda, une mère indienne

Nil Battey Sannata which means good for nothing and thats how the movie describes about one of main characters Apeksha played wonderfully by debutant Riya Shukla.

Apeksha which means expectation but unfortunately the girl has no dreams or expectations with life. Her belief is that her mother Chanda is a servant and she will also become a servant like her mother as her mother has no money to educate her for higher studies. And when she ends up getting poor grades in maths, Chanda joins her class as a student and challenge her to study.

What i really loved about this movie is the director and writer show reality in the film. It not hard hitting but a fact of life. Chanda does multiple jobs to sustain her family. We don't know much about her husband and yet inspite of all troubles, she wants to educate her daughter and make her a doctor or engineer. I liked the scene where she gets noodles to celebrate her daughter's success.

Yet when her daughter is doing badly in Maths, she re-joins school and becomes a competitor to her daughter. When he daughter breaks the bet, she decides to teach her daughter a lesson.

As for her daughter, Apeksha, she is the least bothered kid who just wants to waste time and has no dream and ambition. She is selfish and fails to see her mother's sacrifices.

There is also a nice part in the movie where Chanda accidentally meets the District Collector and stalks him wanting to know how he became one.

Also, the chats between Chanda and one of her employers, a doctor are nicely written.

Swara Bhaskar dons the role of Chanda with ease and confidence. Even with the age against here..she is pulls of a brilliant performance. Its high time that the Chopras and Johars give her a chance in big commercial projects.

New comer Riya is another star in the making and we should watch out for her.

Ratna Pathak Shah who plays the doctor and Vishal Nath who plays Chanda and Apeksha's geeky classmate do commendable jobs.

And finally there is Pankaj Tripathi who plays the school principal. He is one hell of an actor who makes the character look serious and well as funny. He doesn't make it a caricature. The one scene he stands out is in the beginning of the film where the new academic year has started and the assembly is going on.

The movie teaches a few lessons about life and yet it never becomes preachy or emotional. And thats its strength. This movie should be watched by parents and children together.

If you want to experience the magic of amazing scriptwriting combined with great acting and direction, this is the ticket to that wonderland. Right from the start, the cinematography gels with the script. Although it slows down for plot development, but then picks up gracefully again. It's a wonderfully crafted journey that steals your eye control and certainly your heart.

Producer Aanand Rai has marvelously mentored the debutant director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari. After his stint of great movies, here comes a masterpiece in his first production venture. Ashwiny has shown great efforts and I'll take nothing away from him. It's hard to see such a masterclass in a debutant. The way amalgamation of script and actors have been done is simply amazing.

Rising from the supporting character roles, Swara Bhaskar grabbed this lead opportunity with open hands. She is very impressive and her body language is perfect all through. Little girl Riya Shukla steals the heart right from the start and continues to do so throughout.

Overall, an amazing script amalgamated with wonderful acting and direction.

The acting was superb, direction and the screenplay was good too. The movie was so realistic unlike most of the school based movies, this was centered in a govt school where most of the India get educated. The movie is an inspiration for people with few resources and high hopes and dreams. It will motivate you to walk that extra mile to achieve your dreams. The movie is also an answer to those who always blame their fortune, financial status and let them come in between them and their dreams. The film also shows the eternal love of a mother towards her child and how she sacrifices her life to provide her child with all the comfort which she herself was deprived from. I loved the setting of this movie. It felt so realistic and beautiful. Plus the characters were so inspiring like the math genius Amar and the District collector. The sad part is these kinda movies don't make much in the box office. The audience prefer crap like prdp, wanted, dabangg. Movies with no moral and no sense at all. I hope makers of this, masaan, manjhi, gangs of wasseyur don't stop making these for they don' make enough in the box office. because someone has to keep making these to keep our faith alive in Bollywood.

This film coming from a too much commercialized Bollywood is a pleasant surprise. Well crafted script and good direction and excellent performance from the lead actress makes it a memorable movie.

It portrays beautifully the dreams of a widow mother about her only daughter and her fight using limited capabilities to achieve the same.

Swara bhasker as mother of a teenager did an excellent job and it is hard to believe that it is her first movie in a lead role.

Director has also succeeded in getting the natural performance from theyoung artist's. performance of supporting cast is also good especiallythe head master.

With this film Director Ashwini Iyer tripathi can pull a chair and sitin the front row of current Bollywood directors.

This film has got a message which is important for north Indian villages. For sure this film will bring tears at least once while watching it.

What worked: The movie is a tribute to the foundation of our dreams to make it come true; the mother. It's a very well written, acted and directed piece of cinema. Ashwiny and Swara made one of the very heartwarming stories of our time, a tribute to the parents who dream about our dream. Pankaj and Ratna added the needed warmth and flavor to this beautiful movie. Usually the philosophies recited in movies stand flat but this movie had every reasons to mean and make all the philosophical meaningful and relevant , thus making a solid impact when the movie ended. What did not work: Maybe some of the scenes were overly done, meaning the sentiments and emotional content were dramatic but I think we should also understand the theme of the movie. Final verdict: highly recommended