Debutante director Irfan Kamal's THANKS MAA is not a no-brainer Bollywood film. It is gritty, courageous, realistic and hits you like a ton of bricks!

SALAAM BOMBAY, TRAFFIC SIGNAL, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and now THANKS MAA. The lives of the under-privileged street kids continue to attract storytellers across the globe. But THANKS MAA is different because it tells the journey of a street kid who goes on a mission to reunite an abandoned kid with his mother.

Irfan Kamal's directorial debut pricks your conscience and makes you realize that a change is a must. The film disturbs you no end, especially its shocking climax. But the fact is that you can't turn a blind eye to it since there are umpteen cases of paedophilia and incest in real life and THANKS MAA only mirrors the fact.

A 12-year-old street kid named Municipality [Shams Patel], while on the run from the reformatory, finds and saves a two-day-old abandoned baby from becoming the prey to a ferocious street dog. Failing to find any takers among the people whom he deemed responsible and respectable, Municipality takes up the onus of finding the mother of that abandoned baby himself.

THANKS MAA has several poignant moments and most of them keep you on the edge. Especially when the street kid encounters the head eunuch [Jalees Sherwani; powerful performance], a prostitute [Mukta Barve; effective] and of course, the mother of the abandoned child. The street lingo and the generous usage of expletives does raise eyebrows initially, but well, THANKS MAA is a real film. So you need to accept it the way it is!

On the flip side, the writing is slightly loose towards the second hour. A few sequences seem unwanted. However, the climax is simply outstanding and comes as a complete shocker.

Irfan Kamal makes a solid impact as a first-time director. His choice of the subject as also the handling of the material deserves brownie points. The writing [Irfan Kamal, Vishal Vijay Kumar] is gripping at most times. The background score [Ranjit Barot] is effective. The camera [Ajayan Vincent] follows the protagonist like a shadow and the viewer looks like a participant in the entire exercise.

THANKS MAA has sparkling performances by every member of the cast, especially the street kids, but the show belongs to Shams Patel [who has bagged the National Award] and who delivers an astounding performance. The street kids - Salman [as Soda], Fayaaz [Cutting], Almas [Sursuri] and Jaffer [Dhed Shanaa] - are outstanding. A number of actors appear in cameos, which include Alok Nath [tremendous], Raghubir Yadav [loud], Barry John [okay], Sanjay Mishra [splendid] and Ranvir Shorey [believable].

On the whole, THANKS MAA is truly original, innovative and pioneering cinema. The film has won several awards and adulation across the globe and deserves every bit of it. This is one meaningful film you can't afford to miss!

Municipality lands up in reformatory and while escaping, comes across a two-day old abandoned baby. When the apathetic society turns a blind eye towards the infant, he becomes his caretaker and decides to reunite the child with his mother. With the help of his group, he runs relentlessly across the city in this quest while keeping hopes of chancing upon his own mother who abandoned him years ago.

The film works largely for the amount of authenticity that director Irfan Kamal imparts to every frame of the film. Right from casting actual slum kids to training them through extensive workshops, the film boasts of undisputed credibility throughout its treatment. True to the street-smart city lingo, almost every line in the film is marked with expletives galore that are spoken with as much nonchalance by the kids as the city does through the day. One could argue on the extent and intensity of the abusive language but the director seems to be in no mood to compromise on the essence.

The writing by Irfan Kamal and Vishal Vijay Kumar is original, hard-hitting, layered and enters territories untouched so far on the screen. The protagonist’s selfless journey to unite the child with mother is interestingly structured through his encounters with unique characters like a druggie cabbie (Sanjay Mishra), a philanderer (Ranvir Shorey), a prostitute (Mukta Barve), a eunuch (Jalees Sherwani), a priest (Barry John) and more muddled mortals like these. While having an array of grey characters, the film never gets judgmental, suggestive of treatment characteristic of Madhur Bhandarkar movies.

The screenplay is skillfully sketched with scenes that show a new perspective of the city which every time adds to the protagonist’s struggle. At its core, the film is essentially about abandoned infants that frequently make newspaper headlines and hope for a better life (rather life) for them that they are deprived of. And the beauty of the narrative is in its irony that when the protagonist is actually successful in finding the infant’s mother, he loses the hope and inclination to find his own mother.

Despite its dignified concerns and destitute setting, there is a silver lining of sarcastic humour arousing from strange situations and the chemistry between the children. Atypical of artistic arena, the pacing is thankfully swift and the treatment doesn’t get abstract. The length does seem long towards the latter reels and trimming it a bit would have helped. The climax seems somewhat hurried and some more clarity in storytelling here could have made things easier. Also the coincidental appearance of the protagonist’s (Municipality) mother towards the end looks formulaic and was absolutely avoidable.

The modest film doesn’t trade off on technicalities. Essentially the focus is not on highlighting the beauty of the city and cinematographer Ajayan Vincent captures the unclean and uncouth backstreets of Bombay with excellence. Ranjit Barot’s background score adds value to the scenes whenever required and doesn’t force itself on the film. The sound designing and editing are efficient.

The film predominately works for its natural performances from the bachcha company. None of them are sugary sweet or blatantly boisterous like typical kiddo acts in films. Master Shams as the lead player is compelling, confident and the right choice for the National Award (Best Child Actor) that he won. He is brilliant in the pre-interval outburst. Fayyaz as the smallest in the group gets the best one-liners and complements Jaffer at every step. Almas is likeable despite her perpetually running nose. The eldest in the group, Salman puts in a perfect street-smart act as required from his character.

From the supporting cast, Mukta Barve is effective in a short role. Barry John struggles to speak Hindi and seems absolutely uncomfortable in his character. Writer-lyricist Jalees Sherwani is efficient in the single scene where he plays a eunuch. From his patented fatherly figure, it’s a divergent and dulcet change to see Alok Nath play a pedophile. Sanjay Mishra, Raghuvir Yadav and Ranvir Shorey add good support.

Thanks to heartening films like these, one never loses faith and hope from Hindi cinema. For a new perspective on the mean city and meaningful cinema, Thanks Maa is strongly recommended!