3/10 – Paathshaala: Well intention-ed but pathetic treatment.
Paathshaala deals with commercialization of schools. Paathshaala is about Sarasvati Vidhya Mandir (SVM) – a well disciplined boarding school in Mumbai under the strict vigil of the principal, Nana Patekar. During his leave Mr.Sharma (Saurabh Shukla, who aptly calls himself the management) starts making changes in every aspect of the school’s function to ensure that the school makes profits.
The students and teachers are adversely affected. The staff discovers that the principal has orchestrated the changes. So why does the honest principal do that? What prompts these changes? What effect does it have on the children and what happens to the school finally? These are the questions the film answers.
Paathshaal is a well intention film, pathetically treated. The reason for the changes in the school, are fairly obvious but revealed at the climax. The extension of commercialization in the school beginning from canteen to reality shows seems disjoint and inconsistent. The resolutions even more distantly disjoint. From script to screenplay, characters and their motivations all are inconsistent. When one resists changes(the teachers in this case) one would explode at the slightest provocation but these caring teachers suddenly turn docile and patiently accept gross mistreatment of students - absolutely unbelievable and inconsistent.
Saurabh Shukla and Shushant Singh are good, the rest of the teachers/students don’t have much to do. Nana Patekar as the principal, Shahid Kapoor and Ayesha Takia as teachers are good but the script lets them down.
Story and screenplay by Ahmed Khan, dialogues and music by Hanif Shaikh, Editing by Ashraf Makrani and the cinematography is ordinary. Milind Ukrey’s direction is below par.
The film definitely has picked an important subject that plagues modern India. While it’s important to raise time relevant subjects, it is equally important to ask the right questions and supremely important to treat it well. Paathshaala is consistently inconsistent in asking the right questions and its treatment of the subject. For a few heartwarming scenes and Nana Patekar’s acting it’s a 3/10.