{"id":5255,"date":"2019-10-13T07:42:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T02:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=5255"},"modified":"2019-10-13T13:31:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T08:01:47","slug":"naal-review-an-eloquent-reconnection-with-the-nurturer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/naal-review-an-eloquent-reconnection-with-the-nurturer\/","title":{"rendered":"Naal: An Eloquent Reconnection With the Nurturer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5256\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5256\" class=\"wp-image-5256\" src=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG.jpg\" alt=\"Naal Review\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG.jpg 900w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG-300x450.jpg 300w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/NAAL-CHAITYA-SOLO-POSTER-ENG-150x225.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5256\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Naal (Poster)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c2150a;\">Sudhakar Reddy\u2019s debut film <em>Naal <\/em>has been announced as the recipient of \u201cThe best debut film of a director\u201d at the 66<sup>th<\/sup> National Film Awards announced earlier this year. An alumnus of the Film &amp; Television Institute of India, Sudhakar has already made a name for himself as the DOP of films like <em>Deool, Dalam, Highway, Sairat, Vire di Wedding, Saand ki Aankh <\/em>and many more films. Earlier he received a National Award for his short film <em>Ek Akash. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c2150a;\">In his feature film directorial debut, Sudhakar delves into his pastoral childhood spent in a village on the border of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Although the story does not have autobiographical strands, the ambience created by Sudhakar in his film has strong autobiographical resonances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c2150a;\">Viewers from diverse backgrounds connect to <em>Naal<\/em> for its simplicity and intimacy. For the present reviewer, <em>Naal <\/em>is strongly reminiscent of <em>Apu Trilogy <\/em>and the little protagonist Chaitu is a 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century incarnation of Apu.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A wisp of cotton hovers over the rugged terrain of western Maharashtra. A boy standing in the clear blue water below, grabs it as it floats down to him. Sheer magic. Magic hidden in the everyday realities of life that we take for granted. But the little boy Chaitu finds magic in the abundance of life around him \u2013 in the ant holes at his feet, in the honey dripping from the honeycomb overhead and in the chicks he releases from their cage every morning. Chaitu absorbs nourishment from these elements and leads a happy contented life with his parents and grandmother in a village by the side of a river.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3x3mu3WEJw0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sudhakar Reddy\u2019s camera takes us to the innocent world of Chaitu. Little things like going for ablution to the bushes with a boy slightly older than him, birth of a calf in his backyard, a game of hockey with make shift hockey sticks and the daily trip to school in the \u2018tuk tuk\u2019, form the pearls in the narrative string of Reddy\u2019s debut film <em>Naal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Through his directorial debut, Sudhakar Reddy revisits his childhood days spent in a village on the border of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The story he tells is simple. The narrative style he adopts is straightforward. His camera confidently captures the drama of everyday life. He effortlessly enters the mind of a eight year old and brings out the child\u2019s <em>\u2018jigyasa\u2019,<\/em> his wide eyed exploration of the world around him, through fluid camera movements in sync with the nimble footed Chaitu, fluid editing in sync with the camera movements and through well crafted dialogues. The Marathi dialogues have been written by Nagraj Manjule, who also gives a mature performance as Chaitu\u2019s father.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5258\" style=\"width: 767px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5258\" class=\"wp-image-5258 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-3.jpg\" alt=\"Naal review\" width=\"757\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-3.jpg 757w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-3-150x80.jpg 150w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-3-300x161.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 757px) 100vw, 757px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5258\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reddy brings out the child\u2019s \u2018jigyasa\u2019, his wide eyed exploration of the world around him<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In <em>Naal <\/em>there is nothing over the top, nothing melodramatic, nothing \u2018filmy\u2019. The absence of a star cast has been more than made up by child actor Srinivas Pokale. Srinivas has effortlessly fitted into the pastoral setting and slipped into Chaitu\u2019s skin with utmost confidence.<\/p>\n<p>About 20 minutes into the film, a visitor enters Chaitu\u2019s world. It is his maternal uncle from a nearby village. Chaitu warns his uncle, \u201cMama, wear your <em>chappals<\/em>. Lots of thorns ahead.\u201d Uncle asks in return, \u201cWhat about you? The thorns don\u2019t prick you?\u201d Chaitu replies, \u201cNah \u2026 the road knows me well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The camera hovering near the ground tracks the duo as the barefeet Chaitu and uncle with his chappals on, march towards Chaitu\u2019s home. Chaitu is a son of the soil. His feet draw nourishment from the soil that nurtures him. Chaitu\u2019s creator Sudhakar too is a son of the soil. Without having first hand, intimate knowledge about village life, <em>Naal <\/em>would not have been possible.<\/p>\n<p>The story of <em>Naal <\/em>unfolds entirely from the six years old Chaitu\u2019s perspective. Sitting in his class he draws the new born calf in his exercise book and gets thrown out of the class. Outside the class he takes a good look at his drawing and decides to name the new born calf \u201cChintu\u201d.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5257\" style=\"width: 753px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5257\" class=\"wp-image-5257 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-4.jpg\" alt=\"Naal Review\" width=\"743\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-4.jpg 743w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-4-400x222.jpg 400w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-4-150x83.jpg 150w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-4-300x167.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 743px) 100vw, 743px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chaitu leads a happy contented life with his parents and grandmother<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Watching Chaitu enjoying a special relationship with his grandmother or sitting down with his books in the evening, watching his mother run after him in an attempt to put a morsel in his mouth, we are reminded of Apu in Nishchindipur. We become one with the world of Chaitu in pastoral Maharashtra, just the way we had entered the world of Apu in rural Bengal more than 60 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>However, in Apu\u2019s life, there was a constant hint of an outer world. The bioscopewallla came and gave glimpses of \u2018Delhi ka durbar\u2019 and \u2018Kalkatte ki Kali\u2019. The Jatra team acquainted Apu with larger than life mythical characters and finally the train with its metallic monstrous intrusion into the <em>kash<\/em> field came as a symbol of modernity. Chaitu\u2019s world, on the other hand, is self contained, except a rickety TV blaring banalities from the city.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Y0SiOdvEYRs\" width=\"100%\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span class=\"mce_SELRES_start\" style=\"width: 0px; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A narrative crystallises around the core of a crisis. A story becomes worth telling when the crisis is resolved. The crisis in Apu\u2019s life was the constant battle with poverty. In Chaitu\u2019s life, crisis comes from outside his self contained, idyllic world. It comes in the form of an information given to him in his ears by his maternal uncle. Chaitu is tormented by the information. His world is shaken. The familiar world suddenly presents itself with new meanings. He sees somebody crying on TV and asks his mother if she ever cries.<\/p>\n<p>He asks his father who would be the true mother of the chicks that hatch from the eggs \u2013 the hen that laid the eggs or the hen that hatched the eggs. Chaitu\u2019s father shoos him off, \u201cGet out of here\u2026stupid questions about crying hens.\u201d Chaitu is tormented. He must get to the bottom of things. He must meet his \u2018real mother\u2019. But to fulfill his mission, he has to manipulate the world of adults.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5259\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5259\" class=\"wp-image-5259 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Naal Review\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-1.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-1-150x79.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-1-300x158.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-1-768x403.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-1-1024x538.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still from the film <em>Naal<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the process of his manipulative tactics, Chaitu encounters death \u2013 not once, but twice. First, the calf Chintu gets electrocuted by the wires set up in the jungle by the older boys and a couple of days after this tragedy, Chaitu loses his grandmother. On the way to his real mother\u2019s village with his father and grandmother, Granny succumbs to the heat as Chaitu waits for the bus that would take him to his mother\u2019s village. The bus leaves Chaitu behind. Chaitu and his father turn back with Granny\u2019s lifeless body. Chaitu\u2019s mission remains unfulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>But suddenly, quite unexpectedly for Chaitu, a new opportunity presents itself. Chaitu overhears his real mother\u2019s name. She is about to come to attend Granny\u2019s funeral services. Chaitu runs to the river to take a bath and put on his new clothes. He buries the old clothes in the sand. A new phase is about to begin in Chaitu\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>What follows is an unparalleled sequence of poetic eloquence \u2013 an encounter that builds up through glances and looks \u2013 looks of expectation, looks of worry, a yearning to make eye contact and fleeting glances to avoid eye contact. Just as Chaitu never takes his eyes off his real mother, the camera never takes its eyes off Chaitu. Yet, the tension is built up through masterful editing. Shots of matching eyeline are juxtaposed to bring out the unspoken expectations and fears in the hearts of the three characters \u2013 Chaitu and his two mothers. Viewers get to know about the real mother only as much as Chaitu gets to know, except in the last shot of the sequence, when the camera stays with the mother in the bullock cart and Chaitu gradually gets farther and smaller. The camera catches a muted sigh given out by the mother, a sense of loss she has been secretly bearing for all these years for reasons unknown to us.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the film, the word \u2018naal\u2019 takes on many connotations. It is a reconnection of one\u2019s umbilical cord with the nurturer \u2013 mother as nurturer and nature as nurturer. Without being preachy, through the eyes of Chaitu, the film connects its viewers to their true nurturer. As Chaitu gets rid of the kaleidoscope as a mere toy that creates illusive non existent patterns and cuddles up to his nurturer mother, we leave the hall in gratitude to the director for reconnecting us to the real world around us.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5260\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5260\" class=\"wp-image-5260 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-2.jpg\" alt=\"Naal National Award Winning Film\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-2.jpg 640w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-2-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/Naal-2-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5260\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shreenivas Pokale as Chaitu and Nagraj Manjule as his father during the shooting of the film<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Shorn of exotic locales, star cast and intellectual pretensions, <em>Naal <\/em>tells the simple story of a simple village boy who sees the world in the convexity of a dew drop dangling from the blade of a grass and in his innocent childlike way, finds his own position in this world.<\/p>\n<p>The influence of Ray in Reddy\u2019s style is unmistakable, even though he has not been consciously influenced by Ray. The kaleidoscope as a leitmotif, the dream sequence, the bullock cart are strongly reminiscent of Ray\u2019s oeuvre. But while Ray had to work hard to feel the pulse of rural India, Reddy had only to delve into his childhood days.<\/p>\n<p>Before making <em>Pather Panchali<\/em>, Ray had to struggle hard to get his Apu. Reddy was gifted with Srinivas Pokale. Through his rendition of Chaitu, Apu gets a new life.<\/p>\n<p>If Chaitu is the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century incarnation of Apu, he is the reassertion of the fundamental, incorruptible core in our beings that makes us human.<\/p>\n<h3><em>Naal<\/em> is available on the OTT Platform Zee 5<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6ajhEq4HqHo\" width=\"100%\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>More to read in Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/ladakh-chale-rickshawala-an-impossible-dream\/\">Ladakh Chale Rickshawala: An Impossible Dream, An Arduous Journey<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/nagarkirtan-review\/\">Nagarkirtan: Love that Transcends Conventional Gender Clich\u00e9s <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/nathicharami-a-journey-of-self-exploration\/\">Nathicharami: A Journey of Self-exploration <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/enjoyable-mystery-in-history-durgeshgorer-guptodhon-review\/\"><strong>Enjoyable \u2018Mystery in History\u2019: Durgeshgorer Guptodhon Review<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; <\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em>Naal<\/em> tells the story of a simple village boy who sees the world in his innocent childlike way. He is the reassertion of the fundamental, incorruptible core that makes us human. A <em>Silhouette<\/em> Review by Subha Das Mollick.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":603,"featured_media":5257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[420],"tags":[2221,2219,2195,1929,2220],"class_list":["post-5255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-film-reviews","tag-naal-marathi-film","tag-naal-review","tag-national-award","tag-national-film-awards","tag-sudhakar-reddy"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5261,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions\/5261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}