In many ways, Amole Gupte's directorial debut plays out like a classic Western. A grumpy old Sheriff, a veritable bloodhound, starts sniffing around as the sun makes its way overhead and sweat starts rolling down his face. The harmonica -- and the uneven twang of a lonely banjo -- here signals his hunger, hunger he attempts to hide from a roomful of varmints by wiping drops of sweat and the beginnings of drool off with the same once-white kerchief. The outlaws -- runts who dutifully call all ladies "ma'am" -- watch him, fascinated and repelled in equal measure, as do we, in extreme close-up. This is tiffin-break as high noon.
Not that Stanley Ka Dabba, the fabulous treat Mr Gupte brings to our quality-hungry cinematic stomachs, is like a cowboy movie, of course. It is a delightfully simple story about a young boy, his friends and a schoolteacher who isn't his greatest fan, and yet, like the finest of children's tales, it has the power to be just as epic as the children want it to be. Amole, clearly a man who enjoys decapitating our existing cynicism and bringing us on par with his wonderful young protagonists, and for this -- and the resultant return to innocence -- we must be very grateful indeed.
Our young hero here is called Stanley, and played as he is by Partho, he's damn near irresistible. A highly imaginative lad with wide-eyed enthusiasm showing off inner gallons of can-do juice, Stanley's slightly broken English straightens itself (like his schoolboy-slouched spine) for the cutesy English teacher he [...]
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