PAATHSHAALA-REVIEW BY TUSHAR JOSHI OF MID-DAY

Paathshaala - Movie Review
By: Tushar Joshi Date: 2010-04-17 Place: Mumbai


Paathshaala
U; Drama
Dir: Milind Ukey
Cast: Shahid Kapur, Ayesha Takia, Nana Patekar, Sushmita Mukherjee, Sushant Singh, Anjaan Srivastav, Swini Khara
*

What's it about: Shahid Kapur singing a song with a bunch of chirpy kids overdosed on sugar in the backdrop, Nana Patekar's two-and-a-half expression (the raised eyebrow in the climax!), and Ayesha Takia as the chubby dietician who serves chips and sodas make up for some interesting moments in Paathshaala.

A hapless story of the modern-day education system trying to commercialise the medium by introducing reality shows to make stars out of students falls flat right from the first frame.



Using the concept of child labour prevalent in television, the film highlights the sorry situation of a school whose students seem to have no mind of their own! Dated and morose in style, the film just goes around in circles, instead of making a point.

What's hot: Saurabh Shukla as the conniving school manager Mr Sharma, who loves taking jabs at students and sniggers at every opportunity of passing a rude remarks is colourful.

What's not: Paathshaala crumbles under its own weight. Like a house of cards it starts crashing down even before you settle down in your seat.

Everything from the sets, to the costumes and dialogues look outdated. As opposed to today's kids who use iPods and tweet from their Blackberrys, this Saraswati Vidya Mandir has students who are unreal and corny.

Showing an outcast as a kid with some black paint and badly stuck make-up on his face is just hilarious!

Scenes depicting the effect of reality shows on today's children are so hammed up that they serve no purpose.

Among the cast, Shahid looks sedated and the colour and length of his hair keeps shifting in a mysterious manner. Ayesha Takia has nothing new to do than fit in those clothes and down a few bottles of glycerin.

Nana Patekar's unending speech in the climax will make you start liking your own school principal no matter how strict he was!

The rest of the cast doesn't have much to do other than give uneasy close-ups in very bad lighting. Neither entertaining nor socially relevant the film struggles to keep you interested.

What to do: Skip this Paathshaala, instead arrange a reunion with your school mates, it would be more fun than sitting through this shoddy affair.


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