Fandry

Fandry
Film Poster
Directed by	Nagraj Manjule
Produced by	Navalakha Arts Holy Basil Productions
Starring	Kishor Kadam Somnath Avghade Suraj Pawar Chhaya Kadam Nagraj Manjule Rajeshwari Kharat
Music by	Aloknanda Dasgupta Ajay-Atul (Theme Song)
Cinematography	Vikram Amladi
Edited by	Chandan Arora
Distributed by	Reliance Media Works Zee Entertainment
Release dates	17 October 2013 (2013-10-17) (MIFF) 14 February 2014 (2014-02-14) (India)
Running time	104 minutes
Language	Marathi
Budget	₹1.75 crore (US$260,000) [1]
Box office	₹7 crore (US$1.0 million) (Lifetime)[2][3]

Fandry is a 2013 Indian Marathi-language film, written and directed by Nagraj Manjule in a directorial debut. It stars Somnath Avghade and Rajshree Kharat as the film leads. The story focuses on a young boy's infatuation amidst caste-based discrimination. The film set in Akolner, a village near Ahmednagar is about a teenager from a Dalit (lower caste) family, who lives at the village fringe, and falls in love with an upper caste girl.^[4][5]

The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival.^[6] The film released theatrically on Valentine's Day 14 February 2014.^[7] At the 61st National Film Awards, it won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director.^[8]

Plot

Fandry is a story set in the background of caste discrimination depicting the love of a 13-year-old boy.

Jambhuvant Kachru Mane (nickname: Jabya) (Somnath Awghade), a pre-teen lives in a makeshift house on the outskirts of a caste segregated village with his parents and 2 sisters (one a widow with a toddler). The family belongs to a low-caste community (Kaikadi) and earns its living by doing menial jobs. Owing to the caste-ridden power structure of the village society, the boy's father has a fearful and submissive personality which is exploited by the upper-caste villagers.

Jabya is disillusioned by the predicament of his family and shows interest in school where he has also fallen in one-sided love with a forward caste girl named Shalini (nickname: Shalu) (Rajeshwari Kharat) who he has never talked to but tries desperately to get her to notice him.

The plot opens with Jabya and his school friend Pirya (Suraj Pawar) armed with a slingshot trying to catch a bird (the Black Sparrow) in the wilderness. However, the bird call that punctuates the film is that of the Red Wattled Lapwing (Titawi), which is supposed to bring bad luck. The black sparrow, with its distinctive forked tail, and the call of the red wattled lapwing occur repeatedly throughout the film. The duo keep trying to catch the bird in the entire film for an unknown reason which is later explained in the film. According to a local legend, it is believed that when the ash obtained by burning the black sparrow is sprinkled on someone, it hypnotizes them to fall in love with the person sprinkling it.

Jabya also befriends a bicycle mechanic named Chankya (Nagraj Manjule) who sees his young self in the boy. Chankya had once gotten married to a girl but she was soon forcefully taken away by her brother and left him beaten very badly. Since then he has renounced family life and taken up refuge in spirituality, mysticism and liquor. Jabya seeks support from Chankya in his quest to obtain his love, which Chankya readily extends. Perhaps the idea of sprinkling the ash of black sparrow on Shalu is suggested to Jabya by Chankya himself. The idea, however, is executed only in Jabya's dream.

Back in the village, a face of social politics is displayed over and over again as members of the segregated village exploit and ruthlessly dehumanize Jabya and his family who co-operate in the act due to poverty, fear and social hierarchies. The film reaches its climax in one such exploitation where Jabya finally reaches his tipping point and explodes in an impulse driven intense backlash against the oppressors. He hurls a stone at one of the high-caste boys, who were teasing Jabya and his family by calling them "Fandry" (pig). The stone is seen fast approaching towards the audience and the film ends. The closing scene deliberately aims the stone at the audience, which is not only a victim but also a carrier of the exploitative caste-based social system.

Cast

• Somnath Awghade as Jambuwant Kachru Mane (Jabya)
• Suraj Pawar as a Piraji (Pirya)
• Chhaya Kadam as Nani
• Kishor Kadam as a Kachru Mane (Nana)
• Rajeshwari Kharat as Shalu
• Bhushan Manjule as Dada Patil
• Nagraj Manjule as a Chankya (Chankeshwar Sathe)
• Sohail Shaikh as Sangram
• Sanjay Chaudhri as Teacher
• Vikas Pandurang Patil as a Navhi
• Prashant Kamble
• Jyoti Subhash
• Suhas Sirsat
• Moinuddin Inamdar as a principal
• Pooja Dolas as a Vedant's Mother
• Shruti Awate as a Rani
• Sakshi Vyavhare as a Dhurpa
• Pravin Tarde as a Sarpanch
• Suresh Vishwakarma

Crew

• Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Direction- Nagraj Manjule
• Producers-Nilesh Navlakha & Vivek Kajaria
• Executive Producer- Vivek Wagh
• Costume Designers- Gargee Kulkarni and Priyanka Dubey
• Art director- Santosh Sankhad
• Sound Design- Nimish Chheda
• Chief Assistant Director- Gargee Kulkarni and Kutub Inamdar
• Assistant Editor- Kutub Inamdar
• On Location Sound- Christopher Robleto Harvey

Production and release

The film was praised at the Mumbai International Film Festival and was subsequently picked up by Zee Entertainment for distribution rights in Maharashtra in 125 to 150 screens. Vivek Kajaria, who produced the film along with Nilesh Navalakha, said "Fandry is one of the most awaited films of recent times and we have decided to go very strong on our marketing. Our partnership with Zee Entertainment has helped us a lot. We are trying our best to give it a wide release and hoping that the word-of-mouth will help us grow. Then it’s up to the audiences really."

The film released all over Maharashtra on 14 February 2014^[7] and it was released in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa along with 12 states on 28 February 2014 ^[9]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album of Fandry received positive reviews among the fans.

Awards and festivals

Official Selections:^[7]

References

External links

• Fandry at the Internet Movie Database
• Fandry Review