Cast: Partho Gupte, Saqib Saleem, Anuj Sachdeva, Makarand
Deshpande
Direction: Amole Gupte
Rating:
****
‘Hawaa Hawaai’ is a delightful tale, striking just the
right chords that tug at your heartstrings. Amole Gupte has infused so much
personality and emotion into his characters that each and everyone stays with
you much after you have left the theatre.
Arjun Harishchandra Waghmare
(Partho Gupte) watches longingly as children his age glide past in shiny new
roller skates. For a teenager who has had to drop out of school to make ends
meet, learning to skate is a far cry. However, our child hero has an undaunting
spirit and exceptional friends who not only fuel his ambitions but are also
instrumental in their own little way to aid him achieve the
impossible.
It is adorable to see his teenage friends - a car mechanic, a
rag picker, a
zari weaver and a flower seller – use their ingenuity to
craft together a roller skate. Sunidhi Chauhan’s ‘Ghoom Gayi’ plays in the
background, creating just the right atmosphere as the momentum builds and we see
our young hero’s dreams take wings.Life does not offer any simplistic solutions and the film does a commendable job
of bringing that out. Aniket Bhargava (Saqib Saleem) is driven by passion and is
instinctive about innate talent. His offer to coach the young prodigy for free
and buy him new skates exposes that as the privileged we are completely
oblivious to the basic needs of the have-nots. We pat our back for the scant bit
that we chose to do for the society but is that enough?
Aniket is
training his young star for the district championship but after a whole day’s
labour, has he ever noticed that the boy has been struggling with exhaustion?
Does his budding athlete even have access to proper nutrition?
Just
because he has the means to sponsor Arjun’s treatment, he thinks that he can
simplistically alter the entire gang’s future. And that’s when the street-smart
Gochi (Arjun’s car mechanic friend) reminds him, ‘Ek time pe ek hi sapna…’,
asking him to focus on the current goal and also, exposing his
naiveté.
The build-up to the climax is brilliantly accomplished. It’s a
rare feat that very few Bollywood sports films manage to achieve – the climax is
a pulsating race, much like the one we had witnessed in Mansoor Khan’s ‘Jo Jeeta
Wohi Sikander’. Amole Gupte weaves the backstory seamlessly into the narration.
As we root for the underdog in this story, we are excited to see him get a
headstart and yet, we know, there has got to be an inevitable twist. And the
story deserves loud applause as we see our protagonist let go off his troubled
past and sail ahead to grab a promising future.
The film is not flawless; yes, there are some clichés and some needless
pandering to Muslim sentiments reminiscent of the movies of the 1970s. But I am
willing to overlook those because this is a film with a heart.
Amole
Gupte’s gives us little moments that make us smile - Like the relationship
between the brothers played by Saqib Saleem and Anuj Sachdeva. Or the lovely
little bit where the young boys mispronounce ‘Eklavya’ as ‘Eklava’. Or where one
of them says, “Baap ko pitaji bolne se baap badal jayega kya?”
It
clearly shows how Arjun is different from the others, how he has had the chance
to experience the “privileged” life and yet, his friends no matter how crass
their language and manners have big hearts.
Saqib Saleem essays an
understated performance, never over-shadowing the main lead, Partho Gupte but at
the same time belting out a robust portrayal.
He was right when he had said in a recent interview that this is not a
children’s film, ‘Hawaa Hawaai’ is for everyone who has the courage to chase an
impossible dream.
