'Stanley Ka Dabba' captures innocence in its rawest form

Film: Stanley Ka Dabba
Cast: Amole Gupte, Partho, Divya Dutta, Divya Jagdale & others
Director: Amole Gupte
Rating: ****

Here’s one movie, after Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Udaan (2010) that manages to move one to tears after all the smiles it creates in its running time.

Director, writer, producer and actor Amole Gupte collected hundreds of “unpolluted smiles” over a period of one and a half years at acting workshops he holds in a suburban Mumbai school. The polished product of these workshops is Stanley Ka Dabba.

A group of class four students are a tight knit bunch. They eat together during recess, sharing tiffin boxes with one Stanley (Partho) who does not carry any. In return, storyteller Stanley gives them their daily dose of on-the-spot fiction. This trade-off does not go down too well with the gluttonous ‘Khadoos’ Verma (Gupte), who eyes the food of staffers and children alike. Sharing of tiffins with Stanley means no licking of fingers for the brash Hindi teacher. The kids are faced with the daunting task of dodging the teacher during every break.

Cinematically, the film may not be a talking point, but Gupte knows what he wants and gets his way making a point as he goes along. His wife editor and co-producer Deepa Bhatia uses well the talent at her disposal and weaving together the footage gathered over 18 months and making sense at the same. The starting credits are accompanied by Gitanjali Rao’s fabulous animation.

A shoe-string budget, inexpensive equipment and natural performances only add to the attractiveness of Stanley Ka Dabba. Be it the loving English teacher Miss Rosy (Dutta) or the strict Science teacher Miss Iyer (Jagdale), they all make you run the recesses of your mind to find comparisons.

The subdued introduction of Partho as Stanley (Gupte’s son) is evidence of the father’s larger interests. “I am launching 170 children with my film,” he said with conviction in an interview, firmly playing down the benefits likely to be identified with Partho as being a filmmaker’s son. Nothing takes away from Partho’s natural sense of expression and innocence. Ditto with the other boys.

Stanley Ka Dabba is simple yet beautiful, lovely yet not simplistic. Its profoundness lies in what the creative director of Taare Zameen Par, Gupte aims at achieving right from the very process of shooting this film, not disturbing the natural habitat of kids, just letting them be.

Stanley Ka Dabba is something you should experience. Too much reading and writing about it can ruin this experience. Go catch it, if possible with school buddies. There’s no perfect way of reliving those corridor memories.

Read interview with Amole Gupte