This biopic is a story familiar to
many and yet a tad intriguing not because it is in the big league of a Bhag
Milka or a Kom or one which has an Irfan to tell the evolution of Paan Singh
Tommar but because it raises other questions some directly some a tad subtly.
The film maker Soumendra Padhi takes his task sincerely and seriously and makes
not many compromises. He keeps it short. He keeps it simple.
The known tale is about the prodigious child Budia (Mayur Patole) who did a
marathon and got caught in a web of controversy – the controversy and noise
about whether the child was a hero or a victim and how his talent got lost in
the chaos of our politics. India wants to know!! India demands an answer!! It
is also paradoxical that the film is released at the threshold of the Rio
Olympics and the claim that he would have been our best bet at the event. Where
is he? At a Sports Hostel? How has his talent been nourished? Further
paradoxical is the fact that even as I was watching the film social activist P.
Vinay Kumar would post on social media the pathetic condition of students in a
Government study circle for Weaker sections.
The film left me wondering whether it was so much about Budia Singh or about
how our media has irretraceably gone wrong with its ‘on your face’ reporting
and being opinionated rather than a platform that informs. Huge footage is
about the media crying hoarse and being judgemental, loudly insensitively and
destructively. The film does not really judge the social activists who shouted
from roof tops on child rights but surely suggests that the vigilante could
well have been counterproductive. The drama in the life of the kid caught
unwittingly in the cross fire between his talent and his age is constantly
exposed from the face of the media and also the ugly face of politics and its
brazen involvement in sport or any other aspect of life. The killing of his
proactive coach Biranchi Das (Manoj Bajpayee) adds an intriguing angle to the
whole issue and remains unanswered. The Nelson timed film tells how Budia is a
victim of absolute poverty and how his mother (Tilotama Shome) entrusts the
young prodigy to the hope and passion of the local judo trainer Biranchi. The
local Child Welfare Chairperson Mahashweta Malik (Chaya Kadam) steps in to
stall the activity. We also have the leader of the opposition JB Patnaik
(Prasad Pandit) who in his own subtle manner plays his agenda.
In the course of the film one important questions raised, in the context of the
subject of the biopic that screams for a response: Is activism hurting? Their
hangs an important question in the socio dynamics of a social order whose
credibility is in crisis mode. Here the canvas of the film is larger than the
tragedy of a moppet who promised and is somewhere lost in the wilderness. Watch
the film for the exercise asks questions and you may be tempted to respond.
Also watch the film for the steady performance of Manoj and the awesome casting
of Mayur Patole in the title role. He shows as much promise as the role he
performs. Hopefully he will be saved from the eye of the activists and the law
that winks at many a negative exploit of child rights but steps in at the wrong
time, wrong place for the wrong reason with the wrong motive.
The lad who was born to run is lost in the wilderness. Will the system be able
to retrace him? Moot question, certainly in the context of the film.
Rating 3 stars
+ questions raised.
– Over simplified.
L. Ravichander.