Stanley ka Dabba (Hindi; 2011)

Children's movies are a genuine rarety in Indian cinema. Of course there is a rare Taare Zameen Par or The Blue Umbrella. Of course every summer vacation sees a spate of super hero or magic films like Zokkomon or animated films like the Hanuman series. But these are made with the pure intention of entertainment and are meant solely for children. That is where Stanley Ka Dabba stands head and shoulders above such films.

The film opens in a manner startlingly similar to Taare Zameen Par, which the film's director Amol Gupte was originally supposed to direct. The protagonist, Stanley, ambles into school. There is very little dialogue as he walks into the gate, looks at some children playing a game of football, prays to a statue of Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus and then makes his way to class. But in those first five minutes you have become fast friends with a character with an unbelievable Joie de Vivre. You want to know him more. The bruises on his face make you wonder how he got them, what scrape he may have got into. And you soon get his side of the story when the beautiful and highly popular English teacher "Rosy Miss" asks him. After that there's no turning back as he narrates an impossible story of how he saved a little boy from a big bully. You know it is but a figment of his imagination yet you can already see where his fertile mind takes him. This is a constant theme through out the film as you see he uses his imagination to save him from scrapes as well as making him the most popular boy in his class.

The premise of the story is essentially very simple. It follows a young boy, Stanley, of Standard 4F. He's a typical boy of that age with his flights of fantasy and his vivid imagination. And he's not afraid to experiment. So while the rest of the class makes science projects on Global Warming, food or the human body in a scrap book, he constructs a model of a working light house. And when his science teacher expresses her displeasure, you can see he is disappointed that his effort went unnoticed. But his friend's are impressed by Stanley and his imagination and flock around him. You can see in him the need for appreciation as he tries to please his English Teacher by reciting poems for her or writing stories. You can also see his fear for his Hindi teacher, better known as "Khadoos", who thinks nothing of dipping into the "dabbas" or tiffins of fellow teachers and his students. Ostensibly, the story is about how Stanley never brings his tiffin but rarely goes hungry because of his circle of friends who are more than happy to share their food with him. This continues till his Hindi teacher gives him an ultimatum; bring your tiffin or don't come to class. And that is when a question that had always been at the back of your mind comes to the foreground. What is his background? Why does he never bring his tiffin?

Giving the end away would take away all the fun of the movie and hence I will abstain. But while watching the movie, being a fatalist myself, I prepared myself for the worst and imagined Stanley as an orphan, probably living in an orphanage with noone to give him a "dabba". Although I didn't hit the nail on the head, I can't say I'm glad I didn't, since the boy's story is more chilling than a mere orphanage. And although this is shown in only the last 10 minutes or so of the film, it remains with you long after and affects you in myriad ways.

The story might be simplistic yet the treatment is so beautiful that it takes you to the world of Stanley and his friends and eventually to your own school days. Each teacher is beautifully characterised and cast. Divya Dutta plays a most pleasant Rosy Miss, that teacher who was always our favourite and the one we wanted to run to when we fell down and cut ourselves, whose one word would bring more silence to a class than the strictest punishment could. Amol Gupte plays to perfection a scary Khadoos, that one teacher you will always be scared of in school, that bully who would make you wish for the earth to crack and swallow you. Raj Zutshi as the History and later the Hindi teacher is in a role that is slightly difficult for me to understand the relevance of. Rahul Singh as the principal makes for one good looking priest and, as my sister whispered to me, makes you wonder what will happen if he was to head a girl's school. But the one teacher that remains with me most was Science teacher played by Divya Jagdale. Her words and mannerisms were so perfect that I could easily see her in any school teaching a class of naughty eight year olds. Among the kids, each one was perfect. Be it the guy who sits next to Stanley or his friends, the feisty Abhishek who stands up for his friend or the rich Aman who brings food for Stanley everyday. But the person you can't turn your eyes away from is Partho as Stanley. Partho makes Stanley a special experience. His body language, the innocence in his smile, the naughtiness in his eyes, the pain you can sometimes see, his wild imagination, his pleasure at being complimented by Rosy Miss or his dejection at being scolded by the Science teacher, his enthusiasm as he participates in the concert, his happiness, his imagination, even his left handedness makes his special; you can feel each of his emotions and read his thoughts as he tries to hide his situation in life through his stories.

There are some scenes in this film that speak of pure brilliance through its simplicity. One of them being Stanley's constant argument with his benchmate over space allocation. You see, Stanley is left handed. And his benchmate being right handed, they collide over the given space. You also see different people's approach to the predicament. While the science teacher punishes them and asks them to leave class, Khadoos chastises Stanley for writing with his left hand and asks him to shift to his right hand but it is Rosy miss who solves the simple issue by simply asking them to exchange places. And this simple scene has a deep impact as you start thinking that even big problems sometimes have a very simple solution, one just needs to see it accordingly. Another scene worth mentioning is where he practices dance steps he had earlier seen kids do at a workshop. You can see his desire and enthusiasm in that one single scene. The third remarkable scene in my opinion is the last scene as he talks to his teachers and feeds them the food. You see his imagination taking over and protecting him like a cushion and then you wonder what will happen as he grows up. The same friends who idolise his story telling will wonder as to his background. You wonder how this boy will make through life. But his determination, optimism and spirit gives you a confidence that somehow he will manage.

Stanley ka Dabba may try to do more than entertain through its social message, but at heart it remains a simple story of the innocence of youth. Even after understanding Stanley's background, when he comes to school with his dabba and spins his stories around the food, your heart goes out to him. You can see that in these stories, along with convincing others, he's trying to convince himself of a life he doesn't lead. The film reminded me of my primary school days when imagination was allowed to run wild and life was so uncomplicated. Although I am not sentimental, this movie did make me shed a quiet tear in the darkness of the theater, not because of Stanley's predicament or situation in life but simply at the beauty and innocence of youth. It doesn't matter if you don't like children's movies because this is not a children's movie. It is a movie to find our inner child and I definitely reccommend it as a must watch.