A tribute to brotherhood

Shoma A. Chatterji

Mooso means “mouse”. Mosso is a moving film directed by the very young and strapping Deepankar Prakash. Through a simple, straightforward storyline, the director, who has also written the script, narrates a story that goes much deeper than its appearance gives out.

Not very many films choose to focus on mentally retarded characters, who are not crazy but have the mind of a child. Mooso deals with this kind of aberration in a very simple way.

Mooso uncovers several layers of basic human nature through one mainstream young man Kissan (Prageet Pandit) and his childhood friend Baloo (Yashpal Sharma). They are so close that one thinks they are blood brothers. They share a common dream — to have a piece of land to farm in and build a proper house. But there is a problem — Baloo is mentally retarded — not mad or mentally disturbed but his mind works like a child while physically, he is a fully grown man, strong, handsome and very committed to Kissan.

“I wanted Yashpal Sharma to portray the role of Baloo because he has never done this kind of role before slotted as he often it, in negative roles. He saw the script and agreed at once and he fit the character to a tee. He brought together the innocence of a child and the passion of a fully grown man where the mind and body are in conflict and he does not know how to resolve it. For every small thing, he depends totally on Kissan and obeys every word he utters and every order he makes on him,” says the director who is happy that the film is finding place at various film festivals,” says Deepankar.

To try and realise their dreams of home and farm, they set out to settle in a different village with a closed community. But Kissan finds it very difficult to control the sudden spurts of irrational behaviour of Baloo who loves very soft and furry things like a rabbit he would love to cuddle and hold close. The villagers are bewildered and angered by Baloo’s eccentricity and tell Kissan to take care of this fully grown child.

These links between and among Kissan and Baloo, Baloo and his dreams of wanting to cuddle and fondle a rabbit or anything as soft and furry, Kissan and Baloo working their backs off to collect money for their dream farm and build their dream home, Kissan constantly trying to control the eccentricities and troubled by it are narrated in such a low-key fashion that these happen very naturally and organically.

Through the only female character or Rani (Shweta Padda), the beautiful bride of a young man in the village who hardly communicates with his bride in physical terms, the director also unravels the sexual angst of a young woman whose desires remain unfulfilled.

“Baloo is pulled to this beautiful young woman not so much because she is beautiful and young but because he feels she is just like a rabbit, who is soft and can be cuddled and fondled,” says Deepankar. 

Adds Deepankar, “Baloo’s basic issue is to always touch soft things like velvet...silky hair...and finally they die of his uncontrolled energy, which is unintentional. Kissan is an intelligent man and he takes care of Baloo like a mother. He cannot bear or see anybody harming Baloo. But events take a terrible turn, and the film ends on a tragic note.”

The music is controlled and mood-centric which adds to the ambience and cinematography is mind blowing capturing the night scenes of camp fire and other realities beautifully.  For Baloo, Rani is soft and furry like a rabbit.

The film stands out and finds deep meaning mainly because of the sterling performances by the actors and marked by the most outstanding performance of Yashpal Sharma as Baloo who loves to cuddle and fondle rabbits and always asks his guardian-brother Kissan whether he has found a rabbit.