The 'After Hrs' review: 'Gattu'

Film: Gattu
Director: Rajan Khosa
Cast: Mohammad Samad, Naresh Kumar, Bhura, Zoya, Harshit
Rating: ****

These are times when big is the buzzword in films, so big budgets, big stars, big hype are the order of the day promising equally big returns. But every now and then — no matter how much long the time span between this now and then may be — there comes a film that makes all these ‘bigs’ seem completely redundant! And Gattu is just that kind of a film. So what it lacks in these ‘big’ departments, it manages to make up simply by being a small film with a big heart.

Keeping in mind the young kiddie audience, the story itself follows a rather simple premise and the director sticks to keeping things uncomplicated all through. But to his credit there’s not a single moment in the film that lets you wander away from Gattu’s world even if you are not a child yourself.

And what’s Gattu’s world? Well, it’s a small town Roorkee, where, as is the case in most of India, flying kites is an obsession. The skies of Gattu’s hometown where he lives with his uncle, is ruled by ‘Kaali’, a black kite that no one has ever been able to beat in kite-flying. No one knows who flies this undisputed queen of kites, but each time it soars in the sky, it strikes terror in the hearts of all kite-flyers, who’ve tried and failed to bring her down. Unfazed, Gattu makes it his life’s mission to take down this Kaali, even though the local bully along with his coterie of street urchins is always taking potshots at him about his dream. Gattu figures that the only way to bring Kaali down is to fly his own kite from the highest point in the town, which happens to be the terrace of the town’s school. Quite a challenge, considering that Gattu’s never even set his foot in any school ever. But then no challenge is big enough to stop him in his quest to beat Kaali, so Gattu embarks on an adventure to reach his destination, the school terrace.
While it’s a film that kids will no doubt enjoy, even the adults will find themselves reach out to memories of their own childhood and school days. The school scenes of Gattu with his new friends tend to tug at the child in you.

Director Rajan Khosa sensitively captures both, the dreams of Gattu, as well as the desperate helplessness of Gattu’s chacha, who is driven bitter due to poverty and circumstances. So, despite his love for the poor child he often tends to be heartless in his actions towards him. But even then, the affection he feels for Gattu shines through in fleeting moments. As Gattu, Mohammed Samad delivers a rather impressive performance. He manages to retain an innocent charm all through his street-smartness, a potent weapon that sees him survive all situations. The rest of the cast is equally impressive. The film skims through many issues and drives home the point without getting preachy at all. The classroom scenes, and the bedtime conversations between Gattu and his uncle are particularly well-handled. Another plus for this film is the background score and cinematography. On the down-side, ‘multiplex kids’ who have grown up on Harry Potter and co. may find it hard to relate to this bunch of kids, but Gattu apart from the length of the film (80 minutes in all) makes this one a short and sweet watch. Considering the dearth of meaningful kiddie fare in our cinema, well this one will definitely help fill that space. Good things come in small packages? This one just did we say! So, our word, go meet Gattu.