Ashdoc's movie review---Naal ( umbilical cord ) / marathi movie

[ashdoc]

Review has spoilers

This movie is about the other side of India that people like me living in big cities don't think about or rather don't want to think about , but nowadays are forced to confront due to the genius of film maker Nagraj Manjule the maker of 'Sairat' . This is the real India , the rural India .

So at a long distance from urban regions is a small village . To reach it one has to travel first by train . Then by bus to a point where travel is possible only by bullock cart . The bullock cart then travels across a parched region which is stark yellow due to the arid soil and then it crosses a river . Then comes the village where live the main characters of the film .

Here lives the hero of the film---a small boy called Chetya , played by Srinivas Pokale . He lives a carefree existence among his friends going to the rural school by auto rickshaw . But one day his carefree life is shattered by the revelation that his mother is not his real mother but rather he has been adopted by his parents .

Chetya's world is turned upside down and he is desperate to meet his real mother , the one who gave him birth . And he refuses to call his adopted mother as mother but rather starts calling her by name . One must admire the acting at this point by his mother , played by Devika Daftardar . Every expression on her face conveys the pain she must be feeling as her adopted son goes farther and farther away from her . His adopted father is played by Nagraj Manjule himself , but he has not tried to hog the limelight .

The various attempts by Chetya to meet his real mother are something to watch , and acting by the cute innocent boy of barely 5 years of age is a treat to behold . Also good is acting by his friend older to him in age , the bad boy of the village who is always in trouble with the law . The little girl who is Chetya's friend acts too sweet , and once more I was left wondering how could the director squeeze out acting from kids on seeing her sad expression when Chetya admits to her that he is going to go far from the village to meet his real mother and stay with his mother never to come back....

Once again I was confronted with the hallmark of Nagraj Manjule's films---the life of rural India . Shots of things I had ignored , like milking buffaloes and drinking fresh milk taken directly from their udders ( no dilution with water here ) now I was being forced to see . Going for morning ablutions in the fields with water utensil called lota in hand , and setting traps for hunting animals in the deep jungle---I had only heard of this . Seeing the birth of a the calf of a buffalo and watching it standing first time on it's feet and cradling it in one's arms and feeling it's soft skin---I had never done this .

But the calf dies trapped in one of the traps set to trap wild animals as it roams out of the village , and the grief of it's mother buffalo is such that she refuses to give any milk anymore . And it parallels the grief felt by Chetya's mother as he refuses to acknowledge her as his mother anymore .

What brings Chetya back to his senses is his meeting with his real mother ; she refuses to even look at him . Having given him to another woman , she gives respect to that woman's exclusive right over him and does not show any tenderness towards her son . The umbilical cord once broken is forever broken....one is left wondering what she must be feeling forced to ignore her own son .

Though there are no songs , the movie has good background music and decent photography of village and rural life . English subtitles make it easy to be watched by everyone .

Verdict---Good .

Four stars out of five .