Nil Battey Sannata, which released on April 22, is a film with a big heart – one gem of a movie I would say. With the versatile Swara Bhaskar, the multi-talented Rathna Pathak Shah and the promising child artist Ria Shukla, it is the story of a domestic help who wants her sullen and reluctant-to-learn daughter to make it big. One should watch it for the sheer simplicity of the story and the warmth of the characters.
Below are some lessons that I learnt from this beautiful film that has been made with so much love.
1. Never give up on your dreams. Ever!
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In an inspiring dialogue towards the end of the movie, Swara gives the best advice any mother can give her daughter. It goes something like this – “Never stop dreaming. Believe in your dreams. Even at the darkest of times, they will inspire you to keep going ahead. Always associate yourself with people who support you and believe in your dreams. There will also be people who will laugh at them and some will question them. But if you really want it to happen, there is no one stopping you!”
2. There is no substitute for hard work:
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Swara plays the role of Chanda Sahay who works as a domestic help in Dr. Deewan’s house (played by Rathna Pathak Shah). In one scene, Chanda shares her fears with Dr. Deewan – that her daughter might not clear her Class 10 board exams and also about her general tendency of being reluctant to learn. To this the doctor says, “People find success through two things – luck or hard work.”
“If poor people were lucky, they wouldn’t be poor, right?” replies Swara. “So what is left is hard work, she has to do that,” says Dr. Deewan.
3. It is alright to fail:
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People do fail. And it is completely alright to try and fail. The real failure is when you fail to try.
4. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone:
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Throughout the movie, Apu (Chanda’s daughter) is seen struggling with Maths. She hates it and is not even willing to try to like it, let alone understand it. There is a lovely scene in which her classmate tells her “Maths mushkil nahi hain. Tumhe isliye samajh nahi hai aata kyunki tumne use samajhne ki koshish bhi nahi ki. Maths ko apna dost banao aur usse samajhne ki koshish karo”. (Maths is not difficult. You are finding it difficult only because you haven’t even tried to understand it. Make Maths your friend and try to understand it”).
Replace Maths with anything you find challenging or difficult – any skill you want to pick up or anything you want to learn, and try to follow the same advice – the rest will follow.
5. Your future is in your hands:
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Source: Facebook
No matter which situation we are in, we should complain less and try to find the best version of ourselves! In one particular scene, where Apu cribs that the poor don’t have the privilege of dreaming, Chanda says “Only those who don’t have any dreams are the ones who are really poor”.
6. God couldn’t be everywhere. So he created mothers.
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Swara’s character is seen as someone who struggles through her day by juggling many jobs to ensure that she gets enough money for her daughter to study. The same is with our mothers. They set aside their own lives so that we can build ours. They always want the best for us. At the end of the day, it is all about making our mothers smile and fulfilling our dreams which are their dreams too.
For those who haven’t seen the movie yet – go with high expectations and walk out with happy tears!
Watch the trailer here:
[embedvideo id="rGrhXaVyltc" website="youtube"]
- Mahima S
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