Matto Ki Saikil movie review: This slice-of-rural-life is a sharp social commentary

This relationship between man and machine is movingly portrayed in M Gani’s slice-of-rural-life, which coasts on authentic performances, and the rare ability to catch the rhythm of life in a village. Both elements separate this film from so many others which impose artifice in the plotting and execution. The film observes its characters going about their business, inviting us to be participants, and we are happy to ride along, like Matto does. Some of it will inevitably remind you of Vittorio de Sica’s classic ‘Bicycle Thieves’, but it turns out the story is inspired by a similar event in the director’s father’s life.

Matto Ki Saikil movie trailer:

The film flattens in a few places, but on the whole manages to be the sharp social commentary it sets out to be. The lack of good medical care, the ‘kachchi sadaks’, the local netas who take advantage of naive idealists like Matto, the lawlessness, and soul-sucking poverty, is all laid bare. It leaves us with tough questions. Has life in India’s villages changed substantially over these 75 years? How does a man whose livelihood depends upon the meagre daily wages he earns (the day he doesn’t, the family eats dry rotis with chutney) buy himself a new cycle? Doesn’t Matto, and people like him, deserve better? And, the most stinging of them all: will things ever change?

The troubles which beset Matto and his family (Chowdhury as his wife, and Sharma and Roy as the daughters, are all effective) have weight. Theirs is a tightly-knit unit, and they are all equally attached to the ‘saikil’, which is pivotal to their home economy. And Jha is the heart of the film, transforming into Matto with great ease and naturalness. With his shirt, ringed with old sweat-marks and fresh sweat, his back unbent despite hard physical labour, his face lined and baked under the sun, he not only looks the part, but becomes the part. In his past performances, he has been a strong supporting act; in this one, as the main protagonist, you can see that he enjoys filling the screen.