Movie: Paathshala
Director: Mahi V Raghav
Cast: Nandu, Shashaank, Sirisha, Anu Priya, Sai Kiran, Shiva
Rating: ***
The concept of road films is merely limited to chase sequences in Telugu cinema with a few exceptions such as “Gamyam”. Debutant Mahi V Raghav’s “Paathshala” stands out for the sole reason that it dared to do something different at a time when most recent Telugu films have conveniently produced garbage (commercial cinema) in the name of entertainment. Let’s not talk about how good or bad the film is at this moment, because before I get to it I feel it deserves to be celebrated for being the change this industry badly needs.
Towards the end of “Paathshala”, a dialog explains that the road trip has taught the five lead characters more about life than their four years of college. The narrator goes on to explain that the different roads on the trip were their subjects, the different people they met were their teachers and the journey was their Paathshala. You nod with a smile when you hear this line because it beautifully sums up the purpose of this film, which is a cut above the regular college flicks we’ve been exposed to in Indian cinema. In fact, I find this film far better than “Happy Days” for the simple reason that it gave a whole new perspective to look at campus stories. It showed us that life is not just about settling down in a comfy job soon after college, but about pursuing what makes one really happy.
“Paathshala” takes the viewers on a life-altering road trip filled with characters that are so real that you want to hug them. Most of the characters make us feel like we’re looking at our own mirror reflections on screen. And the fact that each character is so different from the other makes the whole experience worth it. When you see Raju trying to impress every girl he comes across, you’re sure reminded of someone very similar from your own life or your college gang. Or when you see Salma struggling to convince her family that she’s not yet ready for marriage, you’re again reminded of someone you know. I was reminded of a talented musician friend who suffered briefly in a job he hated to the core when I saw Surya on screen. These are the type of characters that contribute to over half of Indian population and hence, there’s no way you can say you couldn’t relate to them. If the purpose of characters in a film is to touch us from the inside, I think almost every character in the film did that convincingly.
Did the actors do full justice to the characters they essayed on screen? Maybe not hundred percent considering most of them are debutants and that explains their amateurishness in their performance. But somewhere I felt their amateurish performance did work to a certain extent when you pay more attention to the purpose of the film than the aesthetics of acting.
The film takes a detour when it introduces Shashaank, who plays a character in his last stage of cancer. He meets the gang on road and joins them to complete his bucket list. I think this is where “Paathshala” goes little overboard and succumbs to certain cinematic clichés. It also borrows a scene straight out of Vinay Pathak’s “Dasvidaniya”. Although I liked the purpose of Shashaank’s character, which according to me comes across as a very special teacher in our lives, I was upset with the way Raghav presented him.
Rahul Raj’s music, which mostly relies on strings, was refreshing. Two songs in particular stayed with me for long after I left the cinema hall. A small episode featuring a kid, a gifted dancer, who wants to participate in Dance India talent competition, tugs at your heart strings. It’s beautifully written and Raghav smartly uses one of the songs from the soundtrack to go with the scene.
“Paathshala” teaches some important lessons and you could possibly learn about life in two hours here more than anywhere else.