Chhello show | the last film show written and directed by director Pan Nalin, Gujarati language film ‘Chhello show | the last film show’ with its stunning imagination, powerful dialogues on the nobility of relationships, caste and society, the tea shop bearing an uncertain future, the death of film roll cinema. Time, the present of digital cinema, the current realities of broad gauge railways devouring meter gauge railways, the director has brought alive the past events of his cinematic journey and has attracted the attention of the audience. It is noteworthy that the film ‘Cello Show’ was officially sent to the Oscar competition on behalf of India.
Salala is a beautiful village surrounded by greenery in Gujarat. Same is the 9-year-old son of a tea shop owner at Avvur’s railway station. While going to school, he helps his father by selling tea at the railway station. Same’s father takes his family to watch the movie ‘Jai Magali’, which is playing in a cinema theater in a neighboring town that only shows one scene a day. That’s when Same sees his first movie. Akandu’s distended stomach and the light coming through the hole in the far wall behind the seat increase his quest for cinema. On the way back home after the movie, his father gets angry with his son’s questions about cinema and he blurts out that this is your first and last cinema.
This search drives him to watch movies again and again. He seeks to know how it happens. What are the problems he faces due to this? How did his family see his wish? What did his friends do? Did his wish come true? Isn’t it? – This is the screenplay of the film.
Creativity is high in childhood. That is why children are asking more questions during this season. At times when the right answer is not available, the search for the relevant subject becomes more intense. If you are punished for talking about it and seeking it out, your desire for it becomes dormant. Although this is a very normal phenomenon that emerges from all humans, it can be severe in childhood.
The Dream Factory’s kaleidoscope of colorful dreams make the life of the boy Sameu meaningful. It gives him the courage to bravely face all the problems that may arise of his will. Without cowering in fear of social values and punishment, the light that falls on the screen catches up with the science of art that becomes cinema. Master Pavin Rabri has done a brilliant job in a role that represents so many different dimensions.
You can drop a thousand hardin for that hairstyle. All the people who play his friends are brilliantly cast. Everyone has contributed very well. Starting from the first scene where Ani is lying on the railway track and watching the jet plane flying in the sky, till the final scene where the train prepares to leave her parents and bid farewell to her friends and well-wishers on the way to Baroda, Achiruvan’s realistic performance will not leave the eyes of the viewers.
Diben Rawal as Same’s father and Richa Meena as his mother are amazing performances. In the scenes where she punishes her son realizing that the society she depends on will look down on the film industry, Thiben Rawal is harsh because of Samey’s response, in the scenes where she cooks lunch for her son in different ways, and in the scenes where she stops and embraces her son during the harsh attacks of her husband on Samey, Richa Meena brings the applause of the audience with competition. Apart from them, Faisal (Bavez Srimili) who comes as a projector operator in the film is not only a supporting role but also the first teacher who taught Sameu the light and sound course of cinema very easily.
The film’s cinematography is a huge visual treat, with the blues, reds, yellows and greens of celluloid cinema. The cinematographer of the film is Subabnil S. Sonawane (Swapnil S. Sonawane) steals the audience’s eyes with visual settings. In the middle of the railway track, there is a scene of broken glass pieces, a stand-alone tea shop in a railway station, a tea glass stand hanging by itself with glass tumblers soaked in rain, a cinema theater and a projector room.
The scenes of the boy Same collecting matchstick cards and telling stories, the scenes of the film rolls being screened on a white screen, the scenes of the cinema driving the sunlight through the glass, the low kitchen of the Same house lined with glass bottles, and the various side making scenes of cooking for Shabbat are aesthetic surprises. Shots of a projector being destroyed in a factory becoming an eversilver spoon and film reels boiled in a furnace turning into plastic bracelets give a sense of reality. The director’s master touch is where the close-up shots of the bangles in the climactic scene have the names of Bollywood stars pronounced in a boy’s voice and the names of Hollywood directors pronounced in a grown man’s voice.
This ‘Chhello show’ colorfully talks about the fact that every step taken by children towards big goals with self-confidence and perseverance will lead to success. Movie. After watching the movie, you may remember your childhood ambition. The movie is available on Netflix OTT site.