Film review : “Kasturi: A film made with good intentions drowned by a weak script...”

Films keep being made on true events. But Vinod Kamble's film 'Kasturi: The Musk', based on the true story of a Dalit boy from a village in the Sholapur district of Maharashtra, is a stain on 21st-century India.

By Bollyy 08 Dec 2023 in Reviews

New Update

Rating: One and a half stars

Presented by: Anurag Kashyap and Nagraj Manjule

Author: Vinod Kamble and Shivaji Karde

Director: Vinod Kamble

Cast: Samarth Sonawane, Shravan Upalkar, Vaishali Kendley, Malsidh Deshmukh, Anil Kamble, and others

Duration: 1 hour 53 minutes

Story of Film 'Kasturi'

This story is about Gopi (Samarth Sonawane), a thirteen-year-old poor Dalit boy studying in eighth standard, living in Barshi, Sholapur district of Maharashtra, whose family consists of his grandmother, mother (Vaishali Kendley) and father (Malsidh Deshmukh). Gopi belongs to a family of sweepers and manual scavengers. Gopi is forced to help his father in everything from cleaning the gutters and latrine as well as conducting post mortems to burying the dead body. Gopi's mother does other work besides cleaning the temple. However, the family is in debt due to the father's drinking habit. On the other hand, after completing the work of cleaning gutters and floors, Gopi gets dressed up and applies perfume to school. These days he is collecting three thousand rupees to buy musk perfume. Gopi's peer friend is Aadim (Shravan Upalkar), with whom Kasturi keeps finding ways to raise the required amount of three thousand rupees for the perfume. And to get that little bottle of musk he trusts a drug addict, a wife-beater. Aadim is the son of a butcher. Both friends have to face rotten flesh, blood, and destruction. They find solace in the scent of perfume, which transports them to a happy place, away from the suffocating stench that surrounds and destroys their existence and dreams. Due to his father's drinking habit, he is thrown out of the hospital. When Gopi's mother pleads in front of the doctor, his mother gets the job of cleaning the hospital and for Gopi to help in the post-mortem. But this stops his studies and that too at the time when he is to be awarded for writing an essay in Sanskrit on 26 January. A lot of things happen to Gopi at the last moment, which awakens him and he decides to go to school and study.

Review:

This poignant story of a Dalit boy fell victim to the weakness of the screenwriter. The film follows a similar path, offering a heart-wrenching yet uplifting look at the complexities of class and caste inequality. He reminds every viewer that you don't have to be a slave to your environment or situation. Unfortunately, the writers could not humorously expand the story. The pace of the film is very slow. We have never hidden our heads like an ostrich after seeing poverty and despair. Despite the dull script, the director increased the length of the film by including long scenes. It should have been tightened on the editing table. The writer and director of the film do not have a proper understanding of child psychology as well as this action of the Dalit class. Everything seems very superficial. The film is not able to throw light on the problems of the Dalit class, the problems of cleaning toilets or cleaning gutters/sewers. Perhaps the main reason for this could also be that this is the first film of the writer and director. Due to lack of money, many compromises would have had to be made. Yet the viewer remembers Gopi's resilience, optimism, and warm friendship with Aadim. The last scene of the film remains memorable, where director Kamble keeps hope alive and indicates that change is possible if a person thinks. The film Kasturi salutes the human spirit.

Acting:

The performances of Samarth Sonawane as Gopi and Shravan Upalkar as Aadim are powerful and heart-wrenching. He tries to convey innocence, small happiness, and hope for a better tomorrow through his acting. All the actors in the film are new. The directors have failed to get good performances from them due to their weaknesses.

- Shantiswarup Tripathi

Read also:

#Kasturi