Hellaro Film Review – Raas Garba in the Deserts ! Wow! What a Visual Delight !!!
Raas Garba in the Deserts !!! Wow! What a Visual Delight
Film : Hellaro
Director: Abhishek Shah
Producers: Ashish C Patel, Nirav C Patel, Aayush Patel, Abhishek Shah, Mit Jani, and Prateek Gupta.
Screenplay: Abhishek Shah and Prateek Gupta
Additional Screenplay, Lyrics, and Dialogues: Saumya Joshi
Story: Abhishek Shah
Cast – Aakash Zala , Arjan Trivedi , Brinda Nayak
Rating : (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Stars )✅
Abhishek Shah as a writer director with his accomplished team of creative think tank has come out with an untold but very true folklore depicting the plight of the women folk in a Very Small Hamlet in the beautiful desert Rann of Kutch !
Why true because it resonates strongly with similar folklores which has a dark history.
Some where along the line you get so immersed in the happenings that you start wondering how time has changed . Had read and heard about stories which are found on the Dholithar no Dhoro or the Drummer’s Hillock in Vrajvani.This pictorial depiction becomes more resounding when I recollect an article which was posted some twenty years back by my friend Amrit Gangar a film Historian in Times Of India Editorial page Speaking Tree Column highlighting such folk stories having its roots in the Rann Of Kutch.
Quoting him from his article titled “THE SOUND OF THE DRUM OF BHAKTI”, A Drummer’s story from the Rann of Kachchh.
“The memorial stones, small and big, some shattered, some erased off the sand stones. But the Dholithar no Dhoro, the legendary hillock still evokes sounds and images through the solitary, marshy, endless Rann. The one hundred and twenty unique memorial stones represent the martyrdom of the equal number of Ahbir or Ahir women who sacrificed their life for a drummer (Dholi), who belonged to a comparatively lower caste.”
It goes to the credit of the director Abhishek Shah for bringing to light such interesting stories which may be folklore but are indeed having a reality embedded having happened so many years back when there was so much restrictions and taboos that if you dared cross the lines hell would break loose. As the director has done his own interpretation of the folk story and based it in 1975 when Emergency was declared but still in that rare remote pocket of Kutch, people who stayed were totally cut from the main stream and had their own rules and rituals which forbidded women folk from playing Garba which was predominantly a male domain and women were relegated to fetching water from the stream everyday , produce children and stay stuck in their household functions.
All this changes one day when one of the man in the region who has got a job in Military and having posting on China Border marries a girl Kesar (Brinda Nayak ) who seems to be little bit more educated who rebels against the system and thereby brings in a light of hope for the much deprived women of the region. All the 13 Actresses along with the women folk and the Dholi deserve a Special Mention as they are Pillars of the film and their contribution in taking the movie experience to an elevated level is just commendable and praise worthy.
Cinematographer Tribhuvan Babu brings alive the huge landscape the Rann Of Kutch alive with his master vision and most notably the climax sequence is really captivating and mesmerising. He captures thrills of the moments to be cherished. Editing by Prateek Gupta is very crisp and keeps you hooked and of course the highlight of the film is sharp choreography by ‘Dholi Taaro Dhol’. ‘Lahu Muh Lag Gaya’ and ‘Nagada Sang Dhol’ fame Samir Tanna and Arsh Tanna. Music by Mehul Surti and Sound effects by Subash Sahoo give the required momentum to lift the film to a level of excellence. Make up by Srikant Desai and Costume by Niki Joshi give the adequate look to the characters and add to the authenticity of the era of the folklore.
Like I mentioned earlier it is a team effort essentially as the ensemble cast and crew is very ably handled by the director in making Hellaro a very consuming and engaging cinema !!!!!
Just go and watch this gem of a movie and get yourself a dose of our ancient Folklore with a history and enrich yourself…. Indeed a poetry in motion !!!!! ?
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Hellaro movie Trailer YouTube link: http://
