A lesser known tale of the better known slumdogs

This Sunday, 8th March, my friend Pankaj called me up in the afternoon and asked if I'd like to accompany him for  a special screening of a film written by his childhood friend. Well, that was really very unusual, first of all, to have a friend who writes for movies and that also a movie for which there would be a special screening. I didn't have much to do interesting for that evening other than watching the Filmfare Awards in TV. Seeing a movie by the friend of my friend sounded really interesting. I picked Pankaj up from his home and proceeded towards Ravindra Kalakshetra (in Bangalore). On the way Pankaj mentioned about his friend Vishal Vijay Kumar, who had the penchant for writing since his college days. Finally he landed up in Bombay with the hope to make it big in the 'Zara Hatke Zara Bachke' city. His story is a typical one for anyone aspiring of making it big in Bollywood. Almost everyone starting from Lata Mangeshkar to Imran Hashmi has some story of struggle. Several popular stories make round in various magazines. But then listening from someone who has heard the stories of struggle from the horse's mouth is little different. Thanks to the recent movie "Luck By Chance", many insider information about movie making is known to us. Vishal's experience is also similar - starting from producers asking in a very blatant and gross way to write stories 'inspired' by any particular DVD or adding a scene where the heroine's skirt 'should'  fly off in a Merilyn Monro style out of the blue and then suddenly a song should start in the background expressing the mental condition of the hero after seeing the unseen!! Perhaps these were not anything new. Neither was new Vishal's patience and perseverance to wait till he got the right opportunity to write a story from his heart. But when I finally saw the movie "Thanks Maa", written by him, I was really taken aback. It might be easy to say ideological things, but then in reality achieving what your heart says is something else. Vishal had finally written really something from his heart - something that would touch many other hearts.

The director of the movie had come to Bangalore for a special screening of the movie at Ravindra Kalakshetra and that's where Pankaj was requested by his friend Vishal to attend the screening.

After reaching Ravindra Kalakshetra we found that some function was going on in the auditorium. Everything was happening in Kannada and the people outside also didn't know what exactly was happening inside. Someone told that it was the birthday celebration of some hero, even though we couldn't figure out which hero it could be. Pankaj called Irfan, the director of the movie. Irfan asked us to come to the green room. That's when we learnt what the event was all about. It was the 74th birth anniversary of writer and journalist P Lankesh and the occassion to give out the Lankesh Film Award by his daughter and popular Kannada film director Kavita Lankesh. Irfan Kamal, the director of the movie "Thanks Maa", has been selected as the best debutant film director for 2008. The jury of the award had seen the movie in the Indian Film Festival at Goa last year. Irfan Kamal was here to receive the award and screen the movie for the select audience. Knowing all these created a sort of interest in the movie. After the award ceremony we watched the movie.

The movie "Thanks Maa" (see a trailer here) is about kids in slums of Bombay. After the recent hoopla about "Slumdog Millionaire" the story of Bombay slum is again in the spot light. So I didn't expect anything special or unique in the approach or treatment of a topic that has been dealt too much in movies and media. But I was there for a surprising shock. The movie indeed revolves around five kids from a typical Bombay slum - Soda, Cutting, Sursuri, Dhed-Shaana and the hero called Municipality Ghatkopar. But the essence of the film is not just the slum life. It's a poignant tale of an orphan kid who comes across an abandoned new born baby and goes out of the way to unite the baby with his mother. The orphan kid is called Municipality Ghatkopar because he was found abandoned in a Municipality hospital in Ghatkopar. He was raised in the slums of Bombay, just like any other slum kid. But there is a difference between him and the others. He always has an yearning to meet with his mother, whom he never saw in his life. This yearning is so deep that he keeps on going to the hospital where a security had found him abandoned some ten years back. For all these ten years he kept his hope of uniting with his mother alive. Nothing in his life is the pain of not knowing his own mother. That's why when he discovers the new born being abandoned by a lady he makes it a mission of his life to unite the baby with his mother. Nothing is more important to him at that point of time. 

The rest of the story is about how he finally reaches the mother of the baby. But the biggest shock was waiting for him when he found the mother after so much pain. 

In course of his search for the mother, helped by four other kids, Municipality Ghatkopar experiences a lifeful of experiences. But never for a moment does any of the kids show any sign of depression or frustration. Their lives seem to be so normal amidst all the extreme happenings which can shake even a most unperturbed adult. It's the maturity, that the few immatures exhibit through out the movie, that stands high. The universal feeling of motherhood, that very sadly never arises among those mothers who dump their new born babies in hospitals, arises in a slum kid, who himself has been dumped by his own mother. The care that he takes for the baby, the ingenious ways that he invents along with the other kids to feed the baby and keep him alive is just incredible. It's really heartening to see such an unusual story of a kid. The critics of "Slumdog Millionaire" would surely come up with arms to criticize such a good piece of art on the ground that it shows the brutality and the ruthlessness of a dark side of humanity that's better hidden for ever. But they will surely miss the main thing of the movie - that has nothing to do with the slum or the poverty or the brutality - it's about the need of a mother in your life, a need that only an orphan can feel, a need that's the fortunate kids with parents might never understand as a need at all, a need that turns a ten year old kid into a man!!

Another striking thing about the movie is its sense of humor. Kudos to Vishal, the writer of the movie, for inter spacing the harshness of realities with fun and frolic and humor. The kids never express their helplessness. They are just enjoying their lives to the fullest with all their zeal and vitality. They crack jokes, fight with each other, make fun of each other the same way the rich kids of some international school would do,.... perhaps. That's a very beautiful thing that Vishal and Irfan, the director of he movie, have brought out. It's the story of life, it's the story of hope, it's the story of love.... that has nothing to do with the slums or the brutalities. It's a universal theme presented in the backdrop of a harsh reality.

Now coming to the technical aspects of the movie - for a debutant director it's really a well made movie with barely any trace of amateurish handling of anything. At some places the things become a bit gross, might be for an Indian audience, but overall it's well made. Special care has been taken for minute details to make everything look very real and authentic. Pankaj told me that not a single set was used for the movie. All the scenes were shot at real locations. The editing, music, background scores all were good. There was a feeling of a thriller throughout the movie. The climax scene, where Municipality finally unites with his mother (did he finally untie or that was just a wild thought of the expecting audience??) is well thought of and superbly presented. The movie leaves the audience in lot of thoughts. That's the right way to end a good story - to allow the reader or the audience to think loud and come to his own conclusion.

I really hope that the movie gets released finally. It somehow reminds me of "Chandni Bar", another well thought of  and well made movie.