Starcast: Harsh Mayar, Gulshan Grover, Pitobash Tripathy, Husaan Saad, Beatrice Ordeix, Meena Mir, Sanjay Chauhan etc.
Director: Nila Madhab Panda
Bollywood 2011 is very inspiring for children. After a very long gap, bollywood filmmakers are concentrating on children movies. Releases like Stanley Ka Dabba, Chillar Party and Bubble Gum have all featured young actors in leading roles, though they can't be classified as children's movies. Instead, with innocent characters, simple scripts and honest execution, these were plain old good cinema that held appeal for a wider cross-section of the viewers. The latest addition to that roll call could well be Nila Madhab Panda's I Am Kalam, which has already bagged a host of awards, including the National Award for its lead actor, the young Harsh Mayar, the film's so-called Kalam.
Well, he's not really Kalam, but a young boy named Chhotu, who waits tables at a restaurant in a desert village in Rajasthan. He's a precocious child; eager to learn and teach himself, whose idol is former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who also grew up poor just like him. The movie takes a turn when Chhotu strikes up a friendship with the young kunwar, the prince of the area, and a Delhi-based French woman, Lucy, who he thinks will take him to the capital and enroll him in a school, so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming a tie-wearing 'big man', when he grows up.
The beauty of Panda's movie is the straightforwardness of the script and the innocence of his lead actors. Though the movie does go off beam a bit in the final moments, when Chhotu runs away from the restaurant, for the most part, this is an tremendously believable story, right from the young boy's fixation with Kalam, to the natural way the two young children form an unlikely friendship. Young Chhotu's innocence also comes through in his wish to simply wear a tie and uniform like the kunwar, when he himself is dressed in rags.
Nila Madhab Panda's strength in the movie is his two lead actors, Harsh Mayar and Hussan Saad. Panda deserves kudos for exploration Mayar out of a crowdedDelhi
Saad, as the young kunwar is also a perfect choice, though he lags behind Mayar a bit in the acting department. The other players in the plot, like Gulshan Grover as the restaurant owner Bhati and Pitobash as the devious Laptan, the senior waiter at the place, always at odds with Chhotu, are also well cast. One needs to say, that Grover has always made a mark when cast in encouraging roles, like he is here, and must get into them more often.
The film's other potency is in the cinematography department, where Mohana Krishna explores the Rajasthani setting of the movie wonderfully. Though the movie doesn't vary too much in its locales, limited to a few set pieces of the restaurant and the haveli, the movie does capture the feel of Rajasthan's remoteness.
After few lack of coordination, in the end, I Am Kalam comes across as a reasonably sincere effort from its director, Nila Madhab Panda. With few embellishments in the script and a rooted cast, I Am Kalam shows that a movie doesn't need a high-powered cast or exotic settings to be good; just a good tale and honest actors will do.
Well, he's not really Kalam, but a young boy named Chhotu, who waits tables at a restaurant in a desert village in Rajasthan. He's a precocious child; eager to learn and teach himself, whose idol is former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who also grew up poor just like him. The movie takes a turn when Chhotu strikes up a friendship with the young kunwar, the prince of the area, and a Delhi-based French woman, Lucy, who he thinks will take him to the capital and enroll him in a school, so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming a tie-wearing 'big man', when he grows up.
The beauty of Panda's movie is the straightforwardness of the script and the innocence of his lead actors. Though the movie does go off beam a bit in the final moments, when Chhotu runs away from the restaurant, for the most part, this is an tremendously believable story, right from the young boy's fixation with Kalam, to the natural way the two young children form an unlikely friendship. Young Chhotu's innocence also comes through in his wish to simply wear a tie and uniform like the kunwar, when he himself is dressed in rags.
Nila Madhab Panda's strength in the movie is his two lead actors, Harsh Mayar and Hussan Saad. Panda deserves kudos for exploration Mayar out of a crowded
Saad, as the young kunwar is also a perfect choice, though he lags behind Mayar a bit in the acting department. The other players in the plot, like Gulshan Grover as the restaurant owner Bhati and Pitobash as the devious Laptan, the senior waiter at the place, always at odds with Chhotu, are also well cast. One needs to say, that Grover has always made a mark when cast in encouraging roles, like he is here, and must get into them more often.
The film's other potency is in the cinematography department, where Mohana Krishna explores the Rajasthani setting of the movie wonderfully. Though the movie doesn't vary too much in its locales, limited to a few set pieces of the restaurant and the haveli, the movie does capture the feel of Rajasthan's remoteness.
After few lack of coordination, in the end, I Am Kalam comes across as a reasonably sincere effort from its director, Nila Madhab Panda. With few embellishments in the script and a rooted cast, I Am Kalam shows that a movie doesn't need a high-powered cast or exotic settings to be good; just a good tale and honest actors will do.
Overall, film is praiseworthy to see once.
