Bhubaneswar: By now it is a proven fact that award-winning filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda has a way with children. He proved it with ‘I Am Kalam’ and now comes ‘Halkaa’. In both the films, child artistes have virtually carried the whole movie on their shoulders.
Kudos to Panda for handling the sensitive subject of open defecation through a child’s mind, which makes for a huge impact on the audience.
The protagonist, 10-year-old Pichku, played by Tathastu, living in a Delhi slum is loathe to defecate on the open railway tracks every morning. He refuses to buy his father’s, (Ranvir Shorey) argument to accept it as his fate and chooses to ease himself at home when his parents are out for work and diffuses the smell by burning incense sticks.
Pichku finds his partners-in-arms, Gopi (played by Preet) and a local quack, played by Kumud Mishra. Together, they dream of a proper toilet and work hard to realise it, especially after Pichku’s father uses the government money given for building a toilet on buying an auto rickshaw.
The childlike conversation between spunky Gopi and innocent Pichku is the most delightful part of the movie. Both the child actors steal the heart in their realistic approach to the characters. The realistic looks, costume and not-so-articulate dialogues go to Shorey’s credit. Paoli Dam as the mother looks a little well-turned out for a slum dweller both looks-wise and in her diction.
Except for some shots of Shiv Nadar School and a Parryware showroom, the film was completely shot in a slum. Everything is as expected in a typical Panda film but for a few jarring notes like the scene where Pichku’s father drags him and forces him to defecate in front of everyone as a punishment. Also, the scene in which both the boys are having a conversation on top of a half built multi-storey building is not quite convincing.
