Nautanki/ Drama

Film Review

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That high school year passed too quickly, swiftly, madly and you could not believe it – holding unsaid messages in one hand and uncertain life decisions in the other, you had stepped out of the school gate.

Footsteps, voices, promises, laughter, you could hear it all, but when you had turned, you saw no one there.

Suddenly on your own, with phone calls, messages not being good enough and the classroom meetings of everyday, of every month, for so many years, suddenly took over by hostel walls, you were hit strongly.

The everyday meetings become few, fewer, rare… and the bond?

Presently, it makes a good happy place within you.

If you remember that last high school year, the last month, friends leaving town, and maybe you too leaving for a hostel, all by yourself, then you will love Nautanki*.

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A 2022 feature film, Nautanki, is a coming-of-age drama that calmly, brightly, innocently tells its story. It never forces any thoughts nor is it in a hurry to reach a dramatic point in the protagonist’s saga.

A very rare film that allows the viewer to be on a journey without the burden, aggression of being on one. Not fulfilling a duty, but just observing and exploring honestly, as much as one can.

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Joshi will leave the town after his 10^th standard exams and his best friend, Priti, wonders if he has learnt anything at all, to pass the exams and in life, in general.

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Experimenting with the flow, twisting the technique, the film progresses beautifully – where to, you ask, we don’t know for we too are moving with Joshi.

Fun times and fights with friends, that ‘not-speaking-anymore’ zone, the reunions that colours our high school years give us a tool for sure before thrusting us towards the end, the beginning.

A tool that navigates.

And with our very own – skilled, unskilled, aware, unaware – hands we write our life’s drama.

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Joshi, who knows simply to be – not in the moment, he is ‘moment-free’, he is super careless/carefree – eventually will be pulled into the world’s drama…

Yes, no? And what role will he play in the Nautanki?

Here’s the trailer –

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Watch Nautanki (1h 31m) anytime on YouTube, it is FREE, thanks to the director and his team.

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*Nautanki is a Hindi word that means drama in English. It is used to refer to a style of theatrical performance that is usually more showy, exaggerated and over-the-top than traditional types of theatre. Nautanki performances often include elements like music and dance.

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