I am Kalam Analysis

I am Kalam

Directed by: Nila Madhab Panda

Written by: Sanjay Chauhan

National Film Award for Best Child Artist, for Harsh Mayar.

This film is interesting to me because, it is set in Bikaner and we see a grounded milieu of the place which is excellent but the conversations and the scenes that take place in this grounded milieu are filmy and dramatic. The scene where the kid fools the guy that there's a ghost and he funnily gets scared by it, it's a sweet scene because the kid somehow manages to face troubles and take care of himself. The milieu and the setting are that of a typical indie art house film and the conversations that take place are in the zone of a mainstream Bollywood film and I felt that this was a confusing yet an interesting choice to tell the story on a lighter note. This film has so many influences from the Iranian Children of Heaven by Majid Majidi where the kid's problems being trivial and so small for us, is the whole point of the film. 

The film has a warm feeling to it in spite of the rusting colors and the backdrop. The kid is so exciting to see and be with. His ambitions and enthusiasm in life in spite of the people surrounding him asking him not to dream too much, is so inspiring and I think that's the whole purpose of life, to be motivated and to look forward to something in life. Whether you reach that goal or not isn't that of much importance, in the same way how this film doesn't show if he got to meet APJ Abdul Kalam or not. He meeting Kalam or not isn't the point, he getting inspired by him and he doing the things he does because of that inspiration is an incredible story. Having said all this, my opinion of the film while watching it wasn't as pleasant and as refined as it is after a few days of watching it. For me, this film isn't about underprivileged children in India or the lack of education and opportunities, the film talks about it but for me the film is about finding hope and inspiration through something in depressing situations.