The movie is about Stanley, his dabba gang and his ever hungry teacher. Stanley doesn't bring his own dabba to school since his mother is not in town and has his lunch with his school friends. The 'Khadoos' teacher always scolds him for the same, since he likes to eat the kids' lunch daily himself. Sounds like a stupid plot, right? Wait till you watch the movie. And Be Ready for a twist in the last 5 minutes of the movie. THAT just turns the movie on its head and makes every moment of confusion and wait worth every bit of it. Trust me on this one.
The movie has a strange warmth about it, that is kept up throughout. This warmth gives you a kinda cozy feeling. Its like a quilt in the delhi winters. Its gives you the same feeling that you get, when you are cuddling with some one close. The same warmy/cozy/sweet feeling. I does get nostalgic at more than one occassions but no dose of forced nostalgia is felt anywhere. It does not feel heavy anywhere. Every sequence. Every Dialogue. Everything about the movie was like a relaxing Kerala Ayurveda Massage.
The most brilliant thing about the movie was the 'ease' at which the kids 'acted'. The kids never looked Plasticky like those on TV Serials and Reality Shows. The kinda kids who have grown up too quickly. These kids are different. Its surprising to see them performing the way they do. To be honest, in none of the sequences, it felt as 'acting'. It felt like they were just interacting with each other. Full points to Amol on that. I guess, he would have given the kids a free hand to do what they wanted to do and just given them a broad guideline. I am not even sure if the kids 'knew' they were being filmed. May be they were just rehearsing and Amol shot the sequences. This could have given the 'non-acting' performances by the kids.
To be honest, I don't have words to describe how i feel about the movie. I think whatever i write about the movie, it would not be able to do justice to the movie. Its like an experience more than a movie. Also, on the negative side, for about 15 minutes just before the last 10 minutes of the movie, you start to feel 'whats the point of this movie' and suddenly 'It all starts to make sense'. Those 15 minutes could have been grippier. But that does not take anything away from the movie.
Overall: A Lighthearted, Sweet Movie with no preachiness factored in. Watch it for the sheer coziness of it. Absolute Recommendation
Feel-O-Meter : 8/10