Hawaa Hawaai

Amole Gupte has always fascinated me with his excellent approach towards children, emotions and drama. He captures the little things and reads between the lines to bring out fantastic images of pure sense, passion and realism.

Unfortunately, with Hawaa Hawaai he employs a tried, tested and succeeded formula that talks about a boy's wish to skate. The characters are written with finesse. Saqib Saleem's character is that of an altruist, which if we relate with reality, hampers the thought. There may be 5 out of 1000 people like this character which was previously found in Gupte's Taare Zameen Par i.e. Aamir Khan's character. Partho Gupte should be lauded for his brilliant performance, both while expressing and skating.

I loved the screenplay because it doesn't tell you everything at once. The lead characters' stories are narrated with time as the plot advances. Although the story is tad clichéd, the execution is fine. Supporting cast, music, cinematography and editing all are good. The four boys who enacted the roles of poor, street lads of Mumbai are the bees' knees and secondary cynosure of the film, after Gupte Jr.; I envied their friendship, mind you! The thing about sports movies is that they inspire but it is ironical to know that the inspiration fades after you leave the theater.

But still, this time Gupte samples ounces of melodrama which have varied effects: one, that it induces emotions into the viewers and two, it gives away the idea that the whole film is make-believe. Having said that, the climax is predictable and because I did not experience anything new, I rate it a humble 6.3 out of 10.

BOTTOM LINE: Just because the film doesn't bore and engages you to the core doesn't mean it is highbrow. It can be considered as a very watchable film if we are talking about all those recent potboilers in Bollywood. Recommended!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Good movies for children are quite rare in Bollywood with few exceptions like Masoom and Taare Zameen Par. Lately, watched "Stanley Ka Dabba" which portrayed the story of an orphan working in a small restaurant. Well, the film wasn't very remarkable but I liked Partho in the central role as Stanley who gets punished by his teacher for not bringing his tiffin box. From the same director (Amol Gupte) and Partho in the central character comes "Hawaa Hawaai" which is much motivating, heart warming and inspiring.

The film presents the small aims that even the orphans and street children thrive for. It motivates to search the aim of your life and see the happiness in the smaller things of life for which the film deserves a commendation. The slow pace and the non star cast might keep this film unnoticed; but the film succeeds in its theme. The central characters of the film involve five kids and all of them have given brilliant performances; and I was stunned by Partho's performance. He just makes his role seem effortless and he succeeds in tying the viewers with his character. On a whole, though the film won't create much of hype, the film still deserves to be watched for the genuine story which motivates to make your life meaningful.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4

Hawaa Hawaai (Hindi): Finally 'Taare Zameen Par' got its replacement by its own screenwriter Amole Gupte whose script and direction in this film not only brings back the realism, charms and warmth of his 2011 film 'Stanley Ka Dabba' but makes the film a compulsory watching experience for all children and adults. Loaded with great cinematography by Amol Gole, superb editing by Deepa Bhatia and brilliant music score by Hitesh Sonik which make the narrative of this compact film slick and striking, the best part of the film is that you get to see the brilliant character development of all the characters which are warm and humane. The lead played by Partho Gupte and Saqib Saleem is simply superb along with the co-actors. Despite, the pre-climax being slightly draggy, HH ends up as a brilliant, gripping contemporary and charming cinematic experience worth a watch. My rating would be:4.5/5.

Directed by Amol Gupte, Hawaa Hawaai is an inspirational movie for children. The story is very basic and deals with the life of a child tea vendor trying to excel in skating and finally makes it with all hardships. Arjun (the protagonist) has a bunch of slum friends who supports him in his endeavor. He has had a troubled life since childhood, as his father dies when he is very young and he is forced into working as a tea vendor. Story develops into an adaption of Eklavya's life and the dreams of little children and ends with an emotional note. The first half of the film is funny, fast paced and interesting. However, during the second half the story loses its pace, ending with a dramatized race scene which would not interest audience of all ages. Saqib Saleem has done justice to his role just like his previous movies. The background music is neatly done and blends nicely with the emotional moments during the movie. Watch it on TV instead!

This movie takes forward the tradition that Amol Gupte himself heralded with TZP. He carried the baton forward with Stanley ka Dabba ( tiffin box ) and with this movie -- he has completed a trilogy of children issue based movies -- however -- make no mistake -- all three movies have packed a punch because of the emotional chord and the realism with which Amol has created all the three story lines -- which truly deserve an whole hearted applaud -- as it is guys like him / Anurag / Dibakar -- who are making a mark amongst the filming fraternity -- which of late seemed to be suffering from a colossal failure in terms of story telling with incessant garbage .

Coming back to the movie -- there are moments when it would be pretty hard to hold back your tears because of the intensity of the scenes -- almost all the child actors and the adult actors have pitched in with a great performance -- and to end this review -- would say to watch it for several burning topics which Amol has picked up and shown in a very layered manner -- whether farmer suicides, poor kids empowerment and most of all -- reaching your goals -- which do not let you sleep. This one would stand the test of time.

9.5 / 10