Rating: ★★★ ½ Studio / Presenter: Zee Talkies Producers: Nilesh Navalakha, Vijay Kajaria Writer, Director: Nagraj Manjule Dialogues: Nagraj Manjule, Bhushan Manjule Cinematographer: Vikram Amalaadi Editor: Chandan Arora Cast: Somnath Awghade, Suraj Pawarm Rajeshwari Kharat, Chaya Kadam, Pravin Tarade, Kishor Kadam, Nagraj Manjule Movie Review by: Ulhas Shirke

Don’t mistake this film as an adolescent love story, witnessed in the Marathi films of recent past like ‘Shala’ and ‘Time Pass’. And, if you are confused with the name ‘Fandry’, please try to understand how, people got confused with the name of Aamir Khan’s film ‘Ghajini’, which ultimately turned out to be the name of the dreaded villain in the film. By the way, in this film, ‘Fandry’ is the name of a pig, which plays a spoilsport in the life of a school going boy Jabya, belonging to lower caste and living in a village Akolner, in Western Maharashtra.

Fandry’ is the story of a boy Jambuwant Mane alias Jabya (Somnath Avghade) studying in 7th standard, who like any other boy of his age in a village, aspires to do something else, rather than continuing with his traditional Kaikidi tribe work of catching the pigs or doing odd jobs. So, he studies hard; but his adolescence aspires to win the heart of Shalu (Rajeshwari Kharat) studying in his class. It is a one sided love known to his classmate (Suraj Pawar) and few well wishers like Charkya (Nagraj Manjule), a cycle shop owner and a true sympathiser of Jabya. However, his father – Kachru ( Kishore Kadam) who is an illiterate doesn’t realise the importance of education and wants his son to help him in his work.

Produced by Nilesh Navalakha and Vijay Kajaria and distributed by Zee Talkies, this debut film of Nagraj Manjule is certainly not a love teen age story; but a film making a strong statement on social injustice. Clearly hitting out at ‘untouchability’ that still exists in rural India, the film is an artistic presentation to show how the society prevents the people from lower caste to come into mainstream. Every scene in this film is well crafted, be it Jabya’s belief in hunting the black sparrow, his hard work of selling Pepsi-candy in a nearby village to buy a new pair of jeans, his efforts to impress Shalu or the family’s joint effort in catching the wild pig, at the request of the village head. It required skill, to understand the ground level situation. And, the director has succeeded in doing so.

There is a scene showing the marriage talks of Jabya’s sister, which goes on to show how a poor man like his father, agrees to negotiate on dowry issue. Through the character of a boy from upper business caste, it is shown how Jabya is humiliated in the school and in village. Very cleverly the director has tried to show the scene involving the entire family of Jabya catching hold of a pig , which causes nuisance in village and which is considered as bad omen, by the upper caste. During this chase, a villager shoots a video and posts it on a social networking site; which goes on to say everything about the exploitation of such poor class and their traditional work, in our society.

Through well written dialogues, the film does succeed in generating humour, in this otherwise thought provoking film. A metaphor has been cleverly used by the director, while showing simultaneously Jabya’s impossible hunt for a Black sparrow and his unachievable dream of coming closer to Shalu. The film concludes with a particular scene, which goes on to convey a strong social message. Only sensible film lovers would understand it. But, for those, who come to watch this film for happy ending, as seen in many commercial films; it will be a disappointment. No wonder, the film has won many awards at the international film festival .

In the role of Jabya, young Somnath Avaghade has lived up to the expectations of the director and the audience. Suraj Pawar supports him well, in his close friend’s role. Rajeshwari Kharat perfectly fits into her character of Shali; but there is no scope for her. She has very few dialogues and she doesn’t interact directly with Somnath, except for one dream sequence. Jabya’s family members look very realistic. Best performance comes from Kishore kadam, who plays his father – Kachru. This versatile actor deserves an award for his performance. Director Nagraj Manjule , who has played the role of Charkya, also invites attention. Beautiful photography by Vikram Amlady and suitable background music by Aloknanda Dasgupta, make this film more presentable.

‘Fandry’ is an artistic film with a social message. Only true film lovers would enjoy watching this film. Thanks to good marketing strategy adopted by the distributors, to invite a sizable young audience to theatres on the very first day of its release; which happened to be ‘Valentines Day’.