Fandry
(2013)
Language
: Marathi
Director
: Nagraj Manjule
Sometimes,
films made with minimalistic elements leave
a mark on you which cannot be achieved by any kind of magnum opus or
razzmatazz. This little gem is one of them.
Set
in Akolner village in Ahmednagar district, the
film is a tale of naïve dreams crushed by harsh realities. Fourteen year
old Jambuvant Mane (Somnath Avghade) , called Jabya by his friends ,comes from
the lowest strata of the society with an additional curse of being from a lower
caste. His father Kachru (Kishor Kadam), his mother and two sisters, the family
ekes out a living as manual labourers. But what sets their place among the
lowest in the village is that the family have the job of being pig catchers in
the village.
Jabya
is the youngest in the family and only one able to go to school . He has set
his heart on his classmate Shalu, who sadly for him happens to come from a much
more prosperous household . Only his classmate and best friend Pirya knows this
secret and encourages Jabya to do something to attract her attention. Jabya dreams of being with Shalu all the time ,
who of course is unaware that he even exists. He is deeply shaken when Shalu
refuses to touch another girl because a pig had brushed against her.He shirks
at every given opportunity to indulge in the family’s job of pig catching and
avoiding work, which leads to him being berated by his father Kachru. Kachru has
the additional responsibility of getting his daughters married off. He fixes
the marriage of the eldest with great difficulty after negotiating to bring
down the dowry from Rs 50k to Rs 20k.
Jabya
and Pirya are chummy with the village’s eccentric cycle shop owner Chankya
(played by the film’s director Nagraj Manjule), whose wild hobby is being a
tantrik. He advises Jabya that if he catches hold of a particular black
sparrow and scatters its ashes on Shalu’s
head, she will be his. Simpletons Jabya and Pirya then keep scouting for the
bird, to provide for many comic moments in the film. Jabya aims to buy a pair
of jeans and a t shirt to attract Shalu. Along with Pirya, he starts selling
popsicles in the city for that purpose , in addition of earning much needed
extra income for their poor families. That hope is dashed when Jabya’s rented
cycle is crushed under a truck due to his carelessness. A touching scene in the
film has Chankya deciding to forget about collecting damages for the cycle from a tearful Jabya, knowing
about his family’s condition.
A
crazed pig (Fandry in the local dialect) disrupts the godesses’ procession
during a fair. Kachru is immediately ordered by the village sarpanch to catch it.Next morning,
the family starts with it. Jabya instead of catching the pig starts searching
for the black sparrow, for which Kachru beats him publicly. The entire village
gathers around to watch what it considers to be a freak show entertainment,
deriding and ridiculing Jabya’s family , as they chase the pig, stumble and
fall and hurt themselves. Finally the pig is caught and the jeers from the crowd
continue. Jabya notices that Shalu is also one among the jeering crowd. His
whole world comes crashing down in a moment as he realises that, for her and
for the other people in the village, he will always be a pig catcher’s son and
a lowlife, no matter what he does. The naïve love that dominated his mind for
most of the film’s narrative vanishes forever, replaced by anger and bitterness.
While
carrying the tied up pig , one of the village louts passes snide remarks on
Jabya’s elder sister. This enrages him and he lashes out at the perpetrator,
pelting him with stones. The lout after a while, charges at Jabya again. Jabya
picks up a rock and throws it with all his might towards the screen (from the
louts vision), which cuts to black and the film ends.
The
film received critical acclaim which includes Best Film in Mumbai International
Film Festival, Abu Dhabi International Film Festival, BFI London Film festival,
International Film Festival of India, Goteborg International Film Festival. It
won the best debut feature for a
director and best child actor in National Awards of 2014.
We
are all used to the romanticization and disneyfication of village life by most
Bollywood films and TV serials. This film shows a backward village for what it
is, filthy all around, with deep differences existing between the people. It
also shows a society which is beyond repair, in scenes where Kachru pleads for
the dowry amount for his daughter to be lessened, the way he is made fun of
wherever he goes because he is a pig catcher, or where he is reprimanded by the
village headman because Jabya refuses to catch a pig stuck in cesspit. This is
the India which we choose to conveniently forget and ignore because its very
easy for us. Nagraj Manjule’s direction is astonishing for the fact that except
Kishor Kadam and himself, most of the cast including the film’s protagonist
Somnath Awgadhe, are non actors. He stays away from filling the film with
needless melodrama, or instilling false hopes and shows very aptly that naivete
and futile hopes always have an unpleasant end.
Like
Jabya, a huge number of us are foolish at that age , idolizing the boy/girl who
is unaware that we even exist. The only difference is that we can move on but
for Jabya this foolish love was the only comforting factor in his wretched
existence. The film chillingly shows the caste and class divide that exists in
most of the villages, particularly in one scene where Jabya goes to ask about
the syllabus which was covered on the day he was absent to his classmate’s
house. He doesn’t dare not cross the courtyard and the classmates mother calls
him ‘Vedant, come outside, the pig catcher’s son is here’. The rock that Jabya
hurls towards the screen hits our conscience which somehow allows this evil
divide to continue or ignores it altogether.
This
is certainly not a film for an evening out or for a couple of hours of
entertainment. But watch it to have a different cinema experience.
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