Film Review: ‘Ab to sab bhagwan bharose’

"Psychological analysis of child mind with an attack on religious fanaticism..."

Rating – 2½ stars

Producer: Prasanna Vithanage, Shiladitya Bora, Milap Singh Jadeja, KK Radhamohan, Shilpi Agarwal, Sanyukta Gupta and Ankur Indravijay Singh

Author: Sudhakar Neelmani Ekalavya and Mohit Chauhan

Director: Shiladitya Bora

Cast: Satendra Soni, Sparsh Suman, Moushumi Makhija, Vinay Pathak, Shrikant Verma, Mahesh Sharma, Sawan Tank, Manu Rishi Chadha, etc.

Duration: one hour thirty-four minutes

The fire of 'Mandal and Kamandal' which VP Singh had fanned during his tenure as the Prime Minister, and how the BJP later capitalized on it, is in front of everyone. 1989 is the period when the temple movement and Hinduism grew rapidly within the country. Apart from influencing the minds of the people, it also leaves an indelible mark on the future of the country i.e. the minds of the children. Regarding the same, filmmaker Shiladitya Bora has brought the film "Ab to Sab Bhagwan Bharose", which is an attempt to understand the child's mind along with attacking religious fanaticism. Shiladitya Bora has made a major contribution to the creation of experimental and thoughtful cinema in India. While working with PVR Multiplex, he played an important role in developing this type of cinema under 'Director's cut'. Later, he played a catalytic role in the production of films like 'Masaan' and 'Newton'. And now he himself has come up with a thought-provoking film as a director. His film ‘Ab to Sab Bhagwan Bharose’ especially underlines how the events happening within the home, neighborhood, society, and country affect the child's mind. But he could not fulfill the responsibility of promoting his film and taking it to the audience.

Story:

This story takes place in 1989 in a North Indian village where electricity had just reached. The villagers consider it their absolute right to light the electricity by putting 'Katiya'. Bhola (Satyendra Soni) lives in this village with his mother Radha (Moushumi Makhija) and maternal grandfather (Vinay Pathak). Bhola's father works in Mumbai, which was Bombay till then, and keeps sending money through money orders every month. This is a poor family. Bhola also has his cousin brother Shambhu (Sparsh Suman). The family is very poor. Bhola and Shambhu are fond of flying kites. Bhola's maternal grandfather keeps buying kites for him. No one in the entire village can win the kite-flying competition against Bhola. Bhola and Shambhu go to study in the village of Pandit Ji.

Bhola's mother Radha keeps the Puja of Satyanarayan in the house, where Nana's friend Bokaro Baba (Manurishi Chadha) also comes, is considered an atheist by all. There is an argument between Pandit Ji and Bokaro Baba over religion. Pandit ji is not able to tell Bokaro Baba what’s the story which is repeatedly mentioned in the five chapters of Satyanarayan Katha. Religion is a question of faith and where there is faith, what is the need for questions? Both the children of the house have become completely 'religious'. Just then Bhola's father comes from Bombay. Pandit Ji claims that all this is the effect of Satyanarayan's story. Bhola's father brings a black and white TV, on which everyone watches Mahabharata on Sunday morning. Bhola's father goes back to Bombay saying that soon he will enroll Bhola in a school in Bombay. Here Bhola and Shambhu only like watching TV and flying kites. Now he has started going to school. He doesn't feel like studying in school. When the question about solar eclipse was asked by the senior officer of the district, the elder child forgot about the relative motion of the Earth and the Moon and started explaining the story of Rahu and Ketu. It is not the child's fault because the Pandit ji of the village from whom he got his primary education, taught the same thing in the class. If there is no electricity, they pray to God and electricity comes. On the other hand, people are 'collecting' donations to build the temple on the way and are talking about building the temple at every step.

Bhola and Shambhu's grandmother says that demons live at the other end of the pond. In fact, Muslims live at the other end of the pond. She also calls Bokro Baba a demon. Whereas Bokaro Baba, in his own way, tries to explain to the children that demons or devils do not exist anywhere, they are within every human being. Due to a sudden power failure, Nana Babu died due to an electric shock. Bhola feels that God has become angry with him because he had eaten the chocolate given by Bokaro Baba. So Bhola's maternal uncle takes him and his mother Radha to a village fair and to the Parliament of Religions. Where a person was telling everyone for ten minutes that he is a Hindu and what happened to him, which has a very bad effect on Bhola. In return, everyone gives one rupee to those who collect donations for building the temple, but Bhola gives ten rupees. As the story progresses, it is Bhola's fault in the fight over the kite, but he ends up clashing with the Muslim boy. Muslim mob comes with swords, and Hindus also come. In this encounter, Bhola survives but Shambhu gets killed.

Review:

The film director has depicted the atmosphere of 1989 vividly. The children who grew up in that period still remember the incidents ranging from Shilapujan to hoisting the saffron flag on homes. There was no disturbance among the people living lovingly in villages with a mixed population even till the advent of 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata'. But the temple movement had started dividing. Shiladitya Bose has succeeded in capturing the childhood minds of the children growing up at that time and portraying them from a very psychological point of view. By presenting the story from the perspective of two children, the film director has succeeded in highlighting how religion is used as a tool by vested interests to propagate their divisive agenda. The seeds of hatred are often sown at an early age, that is, in childhood itself that is why the youth inherit the ideology of hatred. Although it is fictional, what happened at the extreme between 1989 and 1992, many Bhola and Shambhu have lost their innocence. This film is not any kind of propaganda film but Exposes communal politics that thrives on the innocence of children. The writers have also raised the question through the film, what do we want to leave as a legacy to our young generation? Overall, the writer and director have tried to give the right message, but due to the dull script, the whole thing has become a mess.

Acting:

In the film, child actor Satyendra Soni in the role of Bhola and Sparsh Suman in the role of Shambhu have performed amazingly. Satyendra, who incorporated childhood mischief, mistakes, and naughtiness in his acting, played the role of a teenager who became an adult at a very young. Due to his excellent acting, he leaves an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of people. Vinay Pathak in the role of Nana Babu and Manu Rishi Chadha in the small role of Bokaro Baba has performed brilliantly. To some extent, the character of Bokaro Baba is similar to that of the leftists, whom the rightists consider untouchable.

- Shantiswarup Tripathi