This week’s newest release, Nil Battey Sannata doesn’t have the usual big stars or exotic foreign locations to tempt us. What it does have instead are far more valuable – a novel idea, an engaging story and some brilliant performances!
Set in Agra, the story revolves around Appu, played by the charming Riya Shukla. Appu has to appear for her class 10 board exams and her absolute disdain for math, coupled with her complete disregard for studies in general make her future prospects pretty dim.
This worries her mother Chanda (Swara Bhaskar) herself a “dasvi fail.” She works as a domestic help, doing odd jobs to add to her income – all so that she can save enough to secure her daughter’s future and make her big dreams for her daughter come true.
Swara melts into her character with her usual flair but if anyone makes this film worth watching it is none other than Pankaj Tripathi. As a math teacher with all his histrionics and idiosyncrasies, he is a delight on screen.
Nil Battey Sannata isn’t without flaws, but it has its heart in the right place. As a debutant director, Ashwini Iyer Tiwari has done a fine job. However, things seem to spiral out of control towards the end. The pace is hurried and the urgency to tie up loose ends make some of the scenes and situations contrived and forced.
But, for its inspiring message of hope and self belief, Nil Battey Sannata deserves to be seen and appreciated. I’ll give it 3.5 QUINTS out of 5.
Go watch it! You
definitely won’t regret it.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)