International Reviews

Times BFI London Film Festival 2010: I Am Kalam Review, by Craig Skinner

I Am Kalam, from director Nila Madhab Panda, tells the story of a young boy, Chotu, who is sent by his mother to work at a roadside food joint in Rajasthan. One of the food joint's biggest customers is the Royal Palace where the wealthy but somewhat irrelevant Royal family reside. The young prince of the family lives surrounded by everything a young boy could want but like the rest of his family, he is disconnected from 'real life' in India and cut off from the people around him. Chotu helps break down this barrier though and befriends the privileged prince.

These two parallel worlds form the backbone of the film's narrative drive and it is the character of Chotu who is the film's lead and hero. Chotu later renames himself Kalam, after the country's president, and the decision is one that comes to define him both in his similarity to his namesake and also in the statement of defiance against the opinion that 'Chotus' have no name, that they are just street kids. This comes to a head and is spelt out explicitly in a speech towards the end of the film that is perhaps a little too on the nose but works within the context of the film.

I Am Kalam rests mostly on the shoulders of its lead and Harsh Mayar is absolutely wonderful in the role, bringing a genuine sense of wide eyed wonder and the actor's wisdom beyond his years is obvious and entirely appropriate to the character. Thankfully though he never slips into the precocious child character that is so often the blight of so much Hollywood fare.

I Am Kalam is utterly charming and the strong central performance coupled with the bright colours and fun, carefree direction helps ensnare an audience in the feel good fairytale on screen. The problems that the film touches on, including poverty, abuse and child labour are for the most part relegated to the far background in favour of breezier and more 'fun' scenes but these themes are not completely ignored and in many ways it is to the filmmakers' credit that they manage to include these elements, even to a minor degree, in a film that is constantly hopeful and for the most part avoids any darkness or grittiness.

The film plays very much like a fairytale, bringing to mind classic Disney rather than something with more real life grounding. The film is not really grounded too far in reality at all, despite the harsh realities of some of the situations and the inclusion of footage of the actual president, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. This fairytale tone is handled well by Nila Madhab Panda and will have most audiences enraptured.

The tone of I Am Kalam may admittedly be just a touch too bright and cheery in places but for the most part it manages to escape falling into unjustified schmaltz and what is left is a touching and affecting portrait of humanity filtered through a hopeful view, an optimist glimpse at what could be.

I am Kalam - Children's review at the London Children's film festival 2010.

Chtou has grown up in a poor family and for as long as he can remember he's wanted to go to school but instead he has to work in a cafe. Chtou seizes the chance to work as he hopes that he can save the money he earns to pay for his education. I am Kalam is a sad but at times amusing story of betrayal, love and comedy. Leila, 11 and Reiss, 9

The thing we liked best about it was the performance given by the actor that played Chtou because of his wonderful smile and his portrayal of his emotions. We also liked the way it looked into Indian culture. Yann and Noah, 10

My favourite character was Chtou's friend, the Prince, because he acted well and I liked his personality. Luke, 7

My favourite character was Chtou because he was always happy. My favourite scene was when they started playing Indian music in the garden. Finn, 11

I liked the part when Chtou rode around on the camel selling tea to tourists through their bedroom windows! Jasper, 7

I would recommend this film because it was a little bit funny and a little bit sad and I liked the mixture of sadness and happiness. Matilda, 8

I would recommend this beautiful Indian film for children above the age of nine because it may be hard for anybody younger than that to understand it. The film is live action and shows you what it might be like for some children who live in poverty and have to work when they should be learning in school. Poppy 10