Getting the calculations right

Nonika Singh

Few films have their heart in the right place, few capture the spirit of what the heart wants to convey and fewer still stay focused on what they set out to state. Nil Battey Sannata is that rare film that is high on a socially relevant message, is cryptically funny and amusing in parts, meaningful all through and steers clear of homilies and sermons. 

It’s a simple and straight cut, to the point yet one that scores from the beginning. Clocking under two hours without much ado it takes us straight into the life of Chanda Sahay (Swara Bhaskar), a housemaid who shares a sweet and sour bond with daughter dearest for whom she dreams of a better future. After all, she is not named Apeksha, expectations, without reason. Without romanticizing poverty and without exaggerating the hurdles the poor face, it says it the way it is and turns into an inspirational and aspirational story. Poor too have a dream. In fact, everyone has a dream and so has Chanda. Gibran might have said, “your children are not your children”, like all mothers, her only daughter is the dream she nurses close to her chest and is willing to go to any extent to make it come true. To ensure that her daughter doesn’t get waylaid by distractions and stays on the course of academic path, Chanda even enrols in a school.  How Chanda’s brush with school at a rather mature age brings about a positive change in her rather insolent daughter forms rest of the narrative. 

The film focuses only on the positive. There are no vamps or villain lurking here. Rather there is no negativity at all. What a relief! At times when many an offbeat director loves to celebrate dark shades of human existence, here is the brighter side of life and people. It’s not just the ever helpful doctrani sahiba (Ratna Pathak Shah spot on as always) in whose house Chanda works or the school principal (Pankaj Tripathi delightful and apt) who are well meaning. The district collector (Sanjay Suri in a brief part) too is a man with a heart. So is the film all heart? Well, it’s more about indefatigable spirit and one that perhaps only a mother can possess and one that can impel her daughter to overcome her maths phobia.  

It's just a coincidence that on a day when a study states that girls shy away from maths as a subject much of the film does revolve around how to get around algebra and arithmetic problems. As the bright kid in the class says ---the answer lies in the question itself---the film’s essence lies in its intent. Nil Battey Sannata, a colloquial idiom, might mean zero upon zero is equal to zero, but the film adds up to quite a substantial figure. Sure, strictly from the entertainment point of view it might not score ten on ten. However, as a purposeful statement it does more for the cause of women empowerment and girl child education than empty beti padaho slogans. If you think the climax is rather poetic and utopian, check out for success stories lurking within the newspapers. Or, better still look around there could be one in the making just close by and like Ratna Pathak’s character you too could be a catalyst in helping another Chanda realize her dream. And for the genesis of that thought alone the movie is worth a watch. 

Superlative performance of Swara, who brings alive Chanda with the right diction, earthy flavor and above all understated dignity is yet another reason why cinephiles should opt for this one. Unless you are stuck on star driven commercial razzmatazz, go for it.