Ramdhanu (The Rainbow)

Source: bengalimovies.in

Has it come to this? Or has it always been this way in big cities? I remember my admission procedure and it was plainly based on whether the student can interact at all. I even remember saying 'फूल ' in-front of the Principal when he asked me what a flower was. Guess things have changed a whole lot since then, for better or worse.

Ramdhanu is a film that deals with variegated concepts against the basic premise of ‘The Right to Education Act' that prohibits interview process in schools for admission and how schools have taken the disguise of 'interactive sessions' to do the shortlisting. It tells us a story of a "bubbly, well-behaved and little naughty overactive" boy Gogol (Akashneel Mitra) whose parents have high hopes of getting him into a big school of Kolkata and would do anything to fulfill this dream of theirs. Gargi Roy Chowdhury as  Mitali Dutta is the perfect balance between a worrying and loving mother who has her moments of frustration when she feels she has 'failed' in getting her son admitted but also has the softer aspects of love and care that prevent her from being any threat to her child. There is Shiboprosad Mukherjee as the father Laltu Dutta who is cute (? J ) and is a medicine shop owner who once hoped to be a doctor. The story moves from schools to schools dealing with concepts of linguistic problems, brain-drain, parents abandoned by their children, feminism and what actually defines the merit of a child.

It is a simple story yet endearing in concept and delicate in execution. It gets serious at times but takes a step back so as to ease the tension. Also, it does get to the business end of things and comes out with colours of glory. It tells you how the whole process of the film was not about the transformation of the child but of the parents. It sometimes goes preaching through the mouth of Madam Malabika (Rachana Banerjee) but her soft and sophisticated mannerism keeps it, well, cool enough to prevent any real friction of opinions.

What holds the film back is the occasional drag in the scenes which is a result of some bad editing and mediocre direction in those few scenes only. For the rest of it, it is a film that rightly sees fit not to give you a message but to tell you a story and how it ends (or rather begins !). If you haven't been a parent, you will like it. If you have, there is chance that you may not.

Bandwidth Verdict: I would have loved the movie were it a 1:30 film. But since it isn't, I just like it. But then again, the movie isn't about any labels.