Thanks for the memories!

Simply Perfect

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Redundant and unnecessary.

Stanley ka Dabba is a film written and directed by Amole Gupte. I never felt the need actually to see this film as I didn't feel much attracted to the subject before. But after seeing the film, I can say that I was overjoyed. These films go out to prove that stories with good content still do exist in Bollywood.Plot: The story of a Hindi Teacher who scolds a child for not bringing his own tiffin.Story and direction: The film doesn't start out with that much interesting scene. It paces very slowly to introduce us to the world of Stanley, our protagonist. But as it catches up I remember being hooked to this film. I myself have studied in a Christian school in Mumbai for 8 years of my life. So I could very easily relate to the school environment portrayed in the movie. The Christian schools have mostly English speaking teachers. I laud Amole for bringing that fact in the teachers of this film. Also, each time a tiffin used to open in any scene, my mouth watered. The climactic revelation also shocked me for almost 5 minutes. That was just like someone punched me in the face. But still there are some flaws in this film. The film's camera work wasn't that great. It sometimes looked that a documentary was being shot and there are so many shots where the focus is on someone's face i.e. no wide angle shots. Also, it looked like in some scenes that Amole Gupte was trying to replicate Taare Zameen Par. If he had treated this film different than that film, I would have been more happier.Performances: Partho Gupte stole the whole movie. The innocence that his character portrayed was perfect. No wonder he got a special mention in the National Awards that year. Amole Gupte was also good as the Hindi teacher (He is just named 'Khadoos'). He can safely be called the villain of the film. Divya Dutta was also good as Rosy. Rahul Singh was perfect as the Christian principal of the school. All the kids in supporting cast were also just right.Music: The songs for this film are mostly situation related. 'Dabba' by Sukhwinder Singh was my track of the film. The rest were just OK.Favorite Scene: The scene where Stanley brings up a science project to the teacher and she immediately rejects it stating it's not related to the course and a bit expensive. This scene highlighted to me the problem of our education system right away. We don't want children to think out of the box.Verdict: This film affected me a lot in a whole other dimension. Watch this film for Partho Gupte. He is one hell of a child artist.I am going to go with an 8.5/10

Stanley Ka Dabba is a combination of good story, good direction and good action... Amole Gupte, succeeded in his attempts to make a remarkable film because the entire crew's co-operation can be seen in the resulting outcome. Stanley's patience and endurance make him win our hearts. With his dancing talent he brings fame to his convent and simultaneously we go back to our childhood days. Mention must be made about Rosy Miss, the affectionate English teacher, played by Divya Dutta, who always appreciates and encourages children. She really lived in her role. Parents, who watch her, definitely feel that their children might have a teacher like her.The Hindi master, who punishes Stanley about his lunch-box faces the consequences.I thank the story writer for not showing any elderly boys bullying or teasing Stanley. All the small children are friendly, co-operative and affectionate with one another. The small children's kindness and understanding nature melts our hearts. The director stuck to his story and showed what he wanted to show. That is the reason why Stanley's face haunts us always. Ever one should see this thought- provoking movie. Finally I congratulate and thank Amole Gupte for showing us such a nice movie, which is emotional and sensitive; he succeeded in developing a story about a small boy's small lunch-box but with a powerful message. I wish the entire crew of this movie a bright future.

There is a scene in the movie when the teacher gives Stanley a chocolate as a mark of her appreciation towards his beautifully written essay. With a sheepish smile, Stanley takes it amidst generous applause from his friends. He then tries to put that chocolate into his shirt pocket only to find to his dismay that the pocket is torn and is no good to hold his chocolate. This is one amongst the many bits in the movie that fall into place at the end.Stanley ka dabba is a story of a kid who is special in his own ways. On the exterior he comes across like any other kid who narrates stories to his friends, sings songs during class breaks, and doesn't miss a chance to have fun. But, the only shortcoming here is that Stanley doesn't get a lunch box to school. It's a problem only according to his Hindi teacher Khadoos Verma but Stanley's friends like all kids have no qualms about sharing their dabbas with him. But, Verma who himself doesn't get a dabba is always preying on others' dabbas gives Stanley a piece of his mind and asks him to get lost till he doesn't get a dabba of his own to school everyday. This point in story leads to the big climax of the movie which I must confess is one of the most overwhelming and extremely touching ending to have seen in recent past.This movie is all about the magical moments held together by threads of simplicity and honesty. Amole doesn't employ any overtly comical, emotional scene to score brownie points. The movie just floats in a good pace giving enough depth for the characters to evolve and get identified by the audience. He sets up the proceedings so brilliantly that the viewer can't really help but feel like he is in the same class as Stanley's and is actually looking at everything happening right there. And of course, all this culminates into one fantastic climax that'll remain etched in the viewers' memories for long time.Amole Gupte was last seen in 'Phas Gaya Re Obama' and 'Kaminey' donning the actor's hat. Before that, he was credited as writer and creative director for the beautiful 'Taare Zameen Par'. He comes back with this movie, now managing all the major departments and delivering a movie that's just sheer genius of art.Amol Gole, the cinematographer of this movie shot it in a hand-held Canon 7D camera because they didn't want to scare the kids away or make them nervous as the kids didn't know at that point in time that they were shooting for a movie !! Yes, the kids were told that these were regular acting workshops and only in the end were they informed about it. These are the things that make this movie look life like and come across as a simple story with an honest intention.Hitesh Sonik's music and Amole Gupte's lyrics gel so well with the scenes that they seem like dialogues between characters but with a difference.The kids Abhishek Reddy, Saisharan Shetty, Aman Mehra, Walter D'souza and others have all done a brilliant job considering that they are the real supporting cast of the movie. Divya Dutta as the charming English teacher who Stanley admires a lot is brilliantly casted. Divya Jagdale and Raj Zutshi are good as well. Amole Gupte as the khadoos teacher just carries on the great work he has been doing lately. But, if this movie has to be remembered for one person then it has to be Partho Gupte(Amole gupte's son) who plays the central character of Stanley and seems so natural in every dialogue and action of his as the lovable kid.What stands out in the movie is the amazing control that Amole Gupte has on the narration of the story. Never does he let the rhythm drop and displays great control on his direction. For me, the dabba was a metaphor for what Amole wanted to convey through this story. It was a medium for him to give out the message in the end.Its not everyday that I quote Karan Johar but here I go. On the day of the music release, he said, 'There is no mainstream or alternative cinema. There is good cinema and bad cinema, Stanley Ka Dabba is very good cinema'.Yeah, Stanley Ka Dabba is one of those movies that'll try to give out a message without trying to be preachy or dumping that thought heavily on the viewers' minds.As an avid movie-watcher , I get disappointed when I watch tons of mindless and stupid movies churned out by the movie industry but still hope that every now and then on a Friday there is a movie like Stanley releasing!

I like films which are very subtle, like Charulata by Satyajit Ray, like "The Tenant" by Roman Polanski. But, I certainly didn't like this movie. In the first half of the movie, nothing happens. The whole point of the movie is that this kid is good at heart, but can't afford to get his lunch-box because he is poor. This point has been stretched to 2 hours. There are a lot of holes in the movie as well. How can a kid who is poor afford to get admitted into such a school in Mumbai?, that too a school with a big playground. Too many stereotypes abound in the movie, like Science teachers being against innovation etc, peons being extremely rude in the movie. The climax is too predictable.