Fandry Analysis

Fandry (2013)

Written and Directed by: Nagraj Manjule
Won National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director

The film is set in Alokner, a village near Ahemdabad, and it is about a teenager from a Dalit family who falls in love with an upper caste girl. It is not about the acceptance of their love, by their families - that's his second film Sairaat - this film deals with how he is oppressed by his villagers - and how his sense of self worth is constantly being suppressed - this makes it a difficult situation for him to even go and talk to her. This film explains the purpose of caste based reservations in India, I don't have enough insight to take a stance on this but this film captures a world where all people need is an opportunity for social mobility. It's heartbreaking to see that some people are told everyday to not even dream beyond their means, the way it keeps happening to Jabya throughout the film - the same was happening in Gully Boy - there it was class, here it is caste. If we as a country can't give opportunities to every section of our people, then we have to deal with our mediocrity forever.

When a film has characters struggling for a certain amount of money, which could change their lives, and the same money could be in the range of our monthly income - and we see them struggle for the duration of the film, and feel along with them - then we learn to value what we have. Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven is a film about two kids struggling for a pair of shoes, it's the same there too. The framing of the film is so strong, in a scene where Jabya's father reports to someone, we see Jabya's father beside the feet of that man, and this man is captured in a low angle shot. This film in spite of being activist, it worked for me because it dealt with feelings like oppression and a loss of self worth, a feeling of unattainable happy life which are feelings which we can empathise with and they don't generate sympathy for the characters. The last shot, hit me so hard (pun intended) just like Sairaat.