Kachcha Limboo

Purposeless,flaccid and devoid of the rudimentary needs of any story, this loosely edited film has nothing to offer except Taheers valiant turn as Shambhu,and Chinmay Kamblis effortless act as the lad from the fishermens village.

Ideas do not make films. Scripts do. This truism uttered by Subhash Ghai at his peak is reaffirmed with every single such enterprise where filmmakers just want to tread supposedly unusual or fresh terrain for,as the Americans so eloquently express things,the heck of it.

Devoid of any imagination,they find financial backers who are also fired at the theoretically sound concept of fresh subjects but have little creative acumen. Together,financier and filmmakers and they are omnipresent now to the detriment of both the calibre and economics of the industry have no clue about the sensibilities of the audience,who just want a good cinematic experience of any genre when they invest time and money on a movie.

Sagar Ballary has the momentous Bheja Fry behind him,but what was that about the second film being a true test of a filmmakers mettle,especially when his first film has been a great success? The fact that the older delightful movie was heavily sourced from a foreign source seems to be vindicated when Ballary,both as writer-director,seems to be at sea in trying out an original story and so ends up drowning his film.

The basic plot seen earlier in variations in films as varied as the 1978 Kitaab and the 2009 Aamras looks at the tussles and travails with teenage of standard eight student Shambhu Taheer Suttarwala,whose mother Sarika has remarried a Gujarati Atul Kulkarni,also at sea and frankly wasted after being widowed. Shambhu is completely detached from his stepfather,but his problems neither begin nor end there he is not too academically bright or focussed,he has problems making friends,and being rude to guests,forging parents signatures,throwing away school calendars or telling lies are okay. His size adds to his woes.

He develops a crush on a girl from the neighbouring school but even that does not lead anywhere. Driven to the corner by the principal Rajesh Khattar,hamming aways ultimatum,he runs away from home and faces a fresh series of problems. But in the end he turns a school hero when he jumps from a train over a river to save a poor boy from drowning. And an intolerably plodding,long and convoluted narrative ends abruptly without any change in Shambhus psyche,his home atmosphere or relationships with peers! There is no drama,message or even any point.

Purposeless,flaccid and devoid of the rudimentary needs of any story beginning,middle and end,this loosely edited film has nothing to offer except Taheers valiant turn as Shambhu,and Chinmay Kamblis effortless act as the lad from the fishermens village. Sarika as Shambhus mother is competent.

Some sequences in the first half strike a chord,the first 30 minutes are identifiable,but after this,the film,losing all sense of direction,drags on interminably. From the music,the Armaan Malik track is nice to hear.

Rating:

One star for all the kids.