Movie: Stanley ka Dabba "SKD"
Director, Producer, Writer and Lyricist: Amol Gupte
Editor & Co-Producer: Deepa Bhatia
Cast: Partho, Amol Gupte, Numan, Abhishek, Divya Dutta, Raj Zutsi, Aditya Lakhia
I went to watch this movie with extra-ordinary expectations due to memories of Taare Zameen par "TZP" which was brain-child of Amol Gupte(concept, story, screenplay, dialogues, creative direction of TZP) and his wife Deepa Bhatia. You expect a better cinematic experience with SKD, especially when you know SKD is his own family production where he has complete freedom to express himself.
TZP was a milestone film in popular Indian cinema and it created such high standards for sensitive children’s film which are difficult to surpass, not just in story, but in all departments of cinema, like acting, screenplay, direction, dialogues, music, cinematography, and creative/art direction. If SKD would have come before TZP, perhaps I would have appreciated it more as Amol has already opened his most of the cards in TZP
But seeing the fact that this was just a result of weekend workshops of Theatre and drama at Holy Family School (Chakala, Andheri in Mumbai) it is not fair to compare with the vast canvas of TZP or any other film. This movie is made with show string budget in very less time, with much lesser efforts in production and post-production.
The story is very simple and doesn’t have much material or twists. But still you flow with the story , with its emotions. You laugh, get tensed, cry and experience a range of emotions. And if you observe closely, there are many things embedded which give glimpses of child psychology,
, Indian teachers psychology and overall treatment of children in India. On one side, this film just attempts to bring memories of schooldays in a documentary manner where you just remember your own schooldays, but on the other hand it gives some message in each step
This story is about the a child Stanley in 4th grade, who doesn’t brings his dabba (lunchbox), but he is favourite of his classmates and they share their lunch with him. Stanley is natural performer as he can make instantaneous and gripping stories in any situation. He also writes creative essays, poems and makes science project of different kind. Our run of the mill education system fails to understand his creativity and brilliance, instead punish him for not being "regular" (those who go with the stream). But there is one teacher "Rosy miss" who not only recognizes the talent in him but also rewards and motivate him. Stanley also has crush on this teacher and he tries to impress her. We all have crush (on teacher of opposite gender) at some point of time in our schoollife. On the other hand there is Hindi subject teacher "verma" who is more interested in children’s tiffins (and also teacher’s tiffins). He has a compulsive urge to grab variety of foods from other’s tiffins. Bizarre it my sound, but he competes with Stanley in getting lunch from children’s tiffin’s, and in a fit of rage he bullies stanley not to come to school without a dabba.
One of the finer message comes along the way, like our indian society forces left hand people to do work from right hand. Most of the people, including teachers, are unaware of the fact, that 10% of world population is born lefty. It’s there natural instinct, it’s a part of there biology, to do things with left hand. If we see this on larger scale, this is just reflection of pshcye of scoiety, where we force any kind of minority to accept the ways of majority
The other things pointed here is, how teachers themselves fail to observe and think constructively
about their students. They have no love or passion for teaching except few like Rosy Miss. A subtle example was when 2 students, one left handed and other one right, are struggling against each other on table, a simple swapping of places can solve the problem. But all teachers are more interseted in just seeing away from problem and punishing students. Many teachers act more like bullies where they actually get chance to satisfy there ego
The movie also shows great camaraderie amongst classmates. we all realize at some point of time that childhood freind ship is more deeper and permanent as the bond that develops at that time is much more emotional and less diplomatic
The finer nuances of movie unveils children’s minds and emotions. Stanley has self-respect and doesn’t asks or accepts for food until his classmates requests him. He prefers to loiter on road and fill his stomach with water rather than asking for favor. His classmates understand the injustice and silently support there friend.
And finally the big message of rampant child labor in India. Still millions of children are working in the age when they should be going to school and also enjoying the joys of childhood
Most strong point of this movie is children’s natural act. There is also a little suspense that, why Stanley doesn’t brings his dabba?
The dabba is both metaphorical and literal. The different instances of dabba in movie actually brings water in our mouth. The dabba in school brings different kind of emotions for food which can’t be experienced even in a 5 star hotel food. In metaphorical terms it depicts differece between "have and have not". Indian govt mid-day meal scheme can be big differentiator to bring kids to schools, if there is less corruption in bringing the meal to its real beneficiaries
There are few shortcomings , but as I said earlier, seeing the scale of movie those can be ignored. Like the science project whih gets applause by Rosy miss, is not even shown properly to viewer so he fails to understand what this fuss about. The teacher’s characters should be little less stereotypical. The events and occurenecs in movie should be more coherent and matured. It looks like a rice which is taken out of stove just last minute before it is cooked fully. A bit more connection and depth with events and charaters was needed.
But overall it’s a good product. The movie’s simplicity is like "curd-rice" with no extra topping or pickle. So some day you are ready to miss you regular spicy meal and want to taste purity in raw from, go for it.