Set in a village in Bihar’s Chhapra district, debutant Pawan K. Srivastava’s post has come from an address that seldom finds space in mainstream cinema. He speaks for millions of Indians who migrate from rural settings in search of employment and better life but ultimately end up losing identity and happiness because the city only gives them refuge, it doesn’t embrace them. Ram S. Dubey (Abhishek Sharma) is one such migrant. After spending all his life in Delhi, when he returns to lead a retired life, he is reduced to Delhi wale baba. As he reflects on his life we get to understand the pain of living life between two addresses, how he missed his spouse and ultimately lost her and how he has become a stranger in his own village.
Life comes full circle for him when he finds his son Jitender facing the same dilemma. An independent film made with crowd funding, it wears its message on its sleeve. It lists the issues involved like an amateurish docu-drama. Pawan could not create the visual difference between the past and the present. The shot taking doesn’t look natural. Though he tries to justify it, the sarangi-laced background music doesn’t gel with the Maithili dialect spoken by the characters. The cast includes a bunch of newcomers who are conscious about acting. It generates a layer of superficiality and doesn’t let the emotions seep through.
Bottomline : Dry document on an emotional issue
NAYA PATA
Genre : Drama
Director : Pawan L. Srivastava
Cast : Abhishek Sharma, Yashwardhan Singh, Juhi Warsi
