Film Review
By Pooja Dhyani
Maali, the movie, starts with an exquisite footage of the Uttarakhand hills which touches your heart. We get an eyeful of scenic beauty with its valley, forests and streams which gets the audience totally mesmerized.
Maali is centered around an emotional storyline involving an old gardener beautifully portrayed by Sushil Yadav. A quiet and poised character, the film in the first half weaves around his love for trees of his homeland Uttarakhand and his will to counter deforestation taking place in the state. He passes on his love for trees to his orphan granddaughter Tulsi, who considers trees to be her true friends.
As the story advances, it touches the themes of loss of loved ones, new relations and stressful city life devoid of greenery. After the Maali passes away, his employer takes the teenager Tulsi under her wings and employs her in the same role.
In the second half of the movie, we see the stark comparison between the calm and green world of Tulsi and city life. Tulsi is invited by the daughter-in-law of her employer to spend some time with her and her husband in Delhi. Here, in addition to the shock of her new environment Tulsi witnesses first-hand the impact of the stresses of a middle-class couple in a fast-paced city life. All through chaos, and thanks to her resilience and her beliefs, young Tulsi is not only able to help make her immediate environment greener but also brings support and hope to her host.
Here, the movie at times does lose focus as it tries to tackle multiple topics like depression, marital discord, assault etc. However, in the end of one and a half hours duration , all comes together around the importance of a healthy environment in the life of humans.
Behind the theme of nature and trees, the movie beautifully tackles the importance of relationships we humans create around ourselves. By no means an environmental documentary, Maali succeeds in inviting its audience to introspect on our modern life.
The message of Maali is relevant to our times and its excellent visuals and realistic story line leave a deep impact.
Produced by: Sonali Rana, Shiv C Shetty
Director: Shiv C Shetty
Written by: Shiv-Sonali
Creative Producer: Sonali Rana
Cinematographer: Hrithik S Naudiyal & Ankit Shrestha
Original Music: Shashwat Mall
Cast: Anita Negi, Auroshika Dey, Sujata Sharma, Sushil Yadav, Hemwant Tiwari, Ishan A Singh.
(Pooja Dhyani, is an ardent nature loving Uttarakhandi. She is also deeply interested in Philanthropy and believes in the strength of Community.)
