Nil Battey Sannata Review: The movie narrates the value of ‘education & dreams’ in simple yet powerful way

Nil Battey Sannata is the story of a mother who defies all odds to make her daughter fall in love with the textbooks. The movie has a strong message about how education can change your life. A light, simple, short yet inspirational movie which can be easily recommended and happens to be the one which should be on your must watch list.

The movie beautifully portrays the importance of chasing one’s dream and show the hidden side of mother- daughter relationship.

The one hour 42 minutes movie revolves around Chanda (a brilliant Swara Bhasakar), a household maid, and her teenage daughter Apeksha aka Appu (debutant child artist Ria Shukla), a fun loving chirpy girl.
 
While Chanda work bone to finger in random jobs to ensure good education for her daughter Appu, who is reluctant to learn and more busy in sitting at back bench to score poor in test, especially maths.

Appu has already decided her fate- to be a ‘bai’ like her mother. She often asks Chanda a pointed and directed question: ‘Tumhari hasiyat bhi hai mujhe matrick se aage padhane ki?’ (Do you even have means to educate me beyond high school?).

Chanda has no answer to this question but she is hell bent to not let her daughter lose aspirations and dreams. She finds support in one of her employer (Rata Pathak Shah) who sees Chanda as not just a machine but human being and encourages her to fulfil the big dreams.

‘Didi’ as Chanda fondly calls her gets Chanda (who herself is a school dropout) enrolled in Appu’s school. The school principal (Pankaj Tripathi) also lends the helping hand to Chanda in mission to bring her daughter back on track.

From here starts a competition between mother and daughter for the ‘numbers’, which is followed by insecurity and arguments. Chanda works from dusk to dawn, attends school, takes care of every little need of her daughter, who is least bothered about her mother’s grand dreams for her.

In this battle between the determined mother and the adamant daughter, ‘maths’ emerges as the metaphor.

A guy in school helps both Chanda and Appu with the subject, by connecting it with their personal lives. He also carries a baggage (which is revealed at the end) that mixes with Appu’s story.

The movie goes through different hues of emotion, but end on a joyful note.

It seems much close to realty with minimal false notes, except a few scenes here and there, which could have been easily avoided had the director been little careful.

In the movie one can experience the hard hitting reality of society, the pain of people suffering with poverty, mother-daughter bond and the value of education.
 
Swara Bhaskar, as the strong-willed mother who will stop at noting in the pursuit of her child, has done a brilliant job. She has presented a striking portrait of tenacity by smoothly carrying this simple yet complicated role.

On the other hand, Riya Shukla, as the rebellion child who is sceptical of her mother’s intentions, has shown great maturity in etching the character that strikes chord with the viewers.
 
Ratna Pathak Shah makes sense in a small yet significant role, and we crave to see more of her.  Pankaj Tripathi, as maths teacher, acts as the required fun element of the movie, who has his own unique way of praising and scolding his students.  

The movie has only one song- ‘Maths me dabba gul’ which is very situational and takes you back to the memory lane of childhood.

Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari has done a phenomenal job in sketching the troubles of poverty stricken people and how they strive hard to chase their dreams. Though, editing could have been crisper. Also, the portrayal of Appu’s classmates’ dream of becoming a driver could have been handled with subtlety, in a way that would have shown that no work is small or inferior.