Third semester effort by Nikshil Shinde at Department of Media and Communication Studies, at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, “Kagad” is a film that essentially emerges as the manifestation of a message from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.
“Kagad” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
Dagadu is an illiterate sweeper, whose son is ill and needs to get him to the doctor, but does not have the money to do so. He asks his boss for a loan, but he is dismissive, sending him to work and telling him that he will answer later. While sweeping, Dagadu finds a piece of paper, which turns out to be a check for a lakh of rupees. However, he cannot understand what it is written on it and neither can his co-worker, Narya, who is also illiterate, and also cannot afford to lend him money. After finishing sweeping the contractor's dog's poop, under the orders of his manager, Dagadu goes once more in his office, to ask about the loan. The manager denies, but when Dagadu shows him the check, his behaviour changes. Realizing that his employee does not know what the piece of paper is about, he offers to keep it and even proceeds on loaning him the money after all. The poor man is even happy with the outcome.
The message Nikhil Shinde wants to communicate through his 8 min short is the one appearing below, and is quite well presented through the narrative. That being illiterate is essentially the same as being mentally handicapped is eloquently depicted through the event with the paper, which highlights the fact that even lady luck cannot help the people who cannot read.
At the same time, and in an equally evident comment, Shinde criticizes intently the manager, who is a rather despicable man, not only denying helping his employees in their direst need, but also takes advantage of and tricks them. The combination of the two comments can also be perceived as a third one, stating that the lives of illiterate people could have been better if they were surrounded by people who wanted to help them. Unfortunately, life does not seem to work this way, at least not in this case.
The acting is on a rather high level here. Bandu Zinjurke as Dagadu is quite good as the obedient, good-willed but rather unfortunate man, while Pravin Kamble is truly despicable in the role of the villain/manager, while retaining a sense of measure throughout the title. Rahul Shelar has done a nice enough job in the cinematography, capturing the everyday life of Dagadu with realism, while a mid-shot showing him sitting under the statue of Phule is both artful and contextually significant. Siddhant Patil's editing implements a relatively fast pace, which is quite economic though, in the presentation of both the episodes and the resulting messages.
“Kagad” is a small, simple film which manages though to communicate Shinde's comments clearly while showing his talent for composition.
