Cinderella Movie Review

Name of the film: Cinderella

Date of release: 4 Decemberm 2015

Artistes:  Rupesh Bane, Yashasvi Vengurlekar, Janardan Parab, Yakub Sayed, Ganesh Mayekar, Vineet Bhonde, Suvarna Kamble, Neelambari Khankar and Mangesh Desai

Producer:  Anjali Avinash Joshi

Director: Kiran Nakti

Music: Kiran Gaurav

 
After the death of their Grandmother, Askya (Rupesh Bane) and Rani (Yashasvi Vengurlekar), who are siblings, are driven out of their hut in a slum colony, by the local goon. The orphan kids now roam on the streets in search of work. Little Rani’s only wish is to possess a beautiful doll Cinderella, which she sees in a showroom of a gift shop. She also sees the same type of doll in the hands of a girl of her age, living in a bungalow. To fulfill the wish of his only sister, the brother does all odd jobs; right from picking plastic bottles to selling story books and mineral water bottles on the roadside. Finally, when he saves a small boy from a well-to-do family, his father (Mangesh Desai) offers him training in painting Ganapati idols in his workshop, so that he can earn some money. He also offers basic education to his sister. This helps the brother and sister stand on their own two feet.

The highlight about this film is the sincere effort of the writer-director to present a simple story of two little children and their struggle to survive in the city life. Both the children, Rupesh and Yashasvi, have performed like naturals, in spite of being newcomers. In the role of the helpful youngster Salman from the slum colony, Vinit Bhonde (of ‘Chal Hava Yeu Dya’ fame) has found a good role and he has played this character very well. As senior citizens from slums, veteran actors Yakub Sayed and Janardan Parab have played their roles with ease. Mangesh Desai, who has a guest appearance in the film, is impressive.Two songs in the film have been provided with good music by Kiran Gaurav. Raja Phadtare has captured the emotion-filled close up scenes very well, through his camera.

Considering this is the debut film of the director, he has handled the film well; but in the later part of the film, he should have made the film more interesting. Also, there is no clear conclusion towards the end of the film as to how the kids managed to establish themselves in society. Barring such few lapses, ‘Cinderella’ is otherwise a good, thought-provoking film with a social message, to show how education and training can change the perception of orphan street children.