Nil Battey Sannata doesn’t follow the traditional Bollywood movie formula. There’s no gloss, no melodrama, no song and dance sequences where everybody moves in perfect synchronization and performs deftly choreographed dance numbers without any planning whatsoever. Instead Nil Battey Sannata is a slice of life story, a simple and affecting narrative of a maid servant who dreams of a better, more privileged life for her daughter.
Apeksha, or Apu (Ria Shukla), is the daughter of Chanda Sahay (Swara Bhaskar), a single mother who works several menial jobs, including working as a maid at Dr. Diwan’s (Ratna Pathak Shah) house. Chanda has big dreams for her daughter, a daughter who has somehow reached tenth standard despite her reluctance to study, despises mathematics with all her heart, and would like nothing more than to drop out of school; Apu’s philosophy in life is that a maid’s daughter can only aspire to become a maid. Dispirited, Chanda exasperatedly vents to Dr. Diwan about how unmotivated Apu is, who comes up with the idea for her to attend the same school as Apu, so that they can learn together, both at home and in school. Desperate and willing to go to any extent for her daughter, Chanda enrolls in Apu’s school so that she can tutor her daughter in math herself.
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s debut film is a mix of a lot of things. It’s starkly realistic in its depiction of the struggles of a domestic worker’s life and doesn’t shy away from portraying teenagers the way they are- complex, cruel, needy and stubborn, all at once. It is also a social commentary on caste distinctions. But above all, Nil Battey Sannata is a heartwarming, tear-inducing, indomitably optimistic tale of the intricate relationship of a mother and her daughter.
Swara Bhaskar brings much warmth and aching sweetness to her act as Chanda, she acutely portrays the desperation and frustrations of a mother who has deep, blinding affection for her child and yet at the same time fights the urge to shake said child by the shoulders until she sees why she needs to work towards a better, safer future. Shukla is perfect as the immature but endearing Apu, her performance sometimes even stealing the spotlight from Bhaskar. The minor characters are played excellently by reliable veterans like Pankaj Tripathi and Ratna Pathak Shah, though it is Tripathi who really shines as the well-meaning but at times harsh principal; he brings in the most laughs as well.
However, not every aspect of Nil Battey Sannata works out as well as it should. Apu’s occasionally overdone precociousness starts getting to you after a while. The second half of the movie feels longer than necessary, especially since the tone gets slightly preachy. But the freshness of the subject matter, the bittersweet familiarity of the constant mother-daughter banter and the beyond brilliant performances of the cast members more than makes up for those small quibbles.
Despite delivering a strong message about how education and a prosperous life is something any person from any socioeconomic background can achieve through hard work, Nil Battey Sannata’s real victories are the small things like Apu and Chanda taking math lessons from a boy in their class who makes them both fall in love with the subject or Chanda’s interactions with Dr. Diwan, who’s extremely fond of her. Ultimately, Nil Battey Sannata is a hopeful and uplifting story with a lot of heart.