Well Deserved Praise

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Regional cinema in India (that excludes Bollywood and the big mainstream Tamil and Telugu movies) occasionally yields little gems like this flick. I heard of it on a news program towards the end of 2014 - the anchor was listing her favorites from the year gone by and she mentioned this as a must-watch inter-caste school love story. That is not quite accurate - the love is deep but one-sided, unrequited, and as one realizes early on, rather hopeless. A low- caste school boy is smitten by the pretty high caste girl that he sees in school every day but centuries of caste stigma are not easily shaken off by sharing the same classroom. The low caste family is routinely humiliated and called upon to trap the wild pigs that roam the village - the rest of the villagers consider the pigs unclean and any contact with the pigs impure. The boy rages against the caste trap and his own father for forcing him to take part in trapping pigs. The movie unfolds slowly for most of its running time, and the high caste characters are almost caricatures in their cruel callousness. Yet, the movie comes alive with a brutal brilliance in the last 10 minutes as shame and fury collide within the tormented boy in an explosive climax. The very last scene is like a punch in the stomach as the raging boy seems to hurl a stone at the audience itself for being mute spectators to injustice.

We learn so many things in school,we read about saints and mahatmas. We all have learned not to discriminate, treat even. But what happens when it's time to apply in real life? Fandry, uses a backdrop of a rural village in Maharashtra to portray an absolutely realistic depiction of our society. Brilliant metaphors follow one after the other in this movie, right from the black sparrow to the pigs. A simple and an otherwise funny episode of pig catching makes you feel so angered and disgusted. People feel we are now a developed nation and such thinking doesn't exist but it's really not true. Hard hitting direction and incredible performances from all actors lifts the movie so high that you nearly forget that it's just a movie. Kishore Kadam and Somnath Awghade deserve a huge applause for this! Kudos to the makers of this movie, deserved much more than just 2 national awards! Do not miss this gem, it will leave you in awe.

I can even say this is the only movie that I have seen till date which is so authentic in its execution. The story revolves around a young boy(Jabya)who is a victim of the social inequality due to casteism in a village. The entire film drives in a direction where the group of people in the village infuriate the boy by abusing him and his family with his caste calling them "Fandri" (Pig), but he remains calm as his family is dependent on the village. The accumulation of all this anger, fear, fury get outburst in the climax act.Everyone in the cast has done a extraordinary performance, there is nowhere where you can see any cinematic sequence. This credit should go the director of the movie (Nagraj Manjule). The amount of ground work that is there in this movie is enormous. Every single detail on the character, or the locations and sequence is something really unbelievable. One thing that can be quoted for instance is the place where Jabya's sister asks water in one of the homes when she runs and gasps. The anonymous character from the home doesn't hands over the water to her instead keeps it down to avoid the touch of inferior caste.In the era of highly moving camera and fast action cuts, the camera work in the movie just shows the power of still cinematography which elevated the movie to the much higher level.The movie is just one great masterpiece from the debut director !

'Fandry' is an exceptionally well crafted film on Social issues still exist in rural India. The young protagonist 'Jambya' is a school going boy who is from untouchable 'Kaikade' community who catch pigs and do odd jobs for their living. Jambya is interested in school and likes a girl from school who is a upper caste. The boy has rebellious thought of not catching pigs although its their basic work for living. Director has meticulously worked on characters and social pressure on them through different incidences. The suffocation of the boy due to family pressure, his love for upper class girl and killing of his innocence at the hands of upper caste boys are key points which are well written by the writer. What starts as a simple rural life oriented film goes to climax with boy overcoming the pressure of society, understanding of self and takes audience to a different level of his revolt against 'untouchability' issue.The climax is the hallmark of the film. Its a tight slap to the society which shows how a small boy becomes an adult due to one incidence. His self realisation is disturbing and a truth difficult to handle. There is a definite message in the film which the Director delivers in distinctive fashion. The film has already won many awards in India and accolades from all over the world. It is releasing in India on 14th February 2014. If you really love reality based Cinema then this is it. Don't miss!!!