Film festival at GCTE📽️📽️

The film festival started at 3 pm. Aasai (award winning tamil short film) and Tippen box (award winning tamil short film)  were the movies.

'Aasai' , a Tamil short film takes us the time when our monthly telephone bill exceeded our shopping bills. The film revolves around Selvam, a small boy who works at a grocery shop. Selvam works far away from his home and misses his mother greatly. Since he can't meet her , he wishes to hear her voice over the telephone. This ultimately becomes his dream and he saves up all the tips from delivering groceries to homes, just to have a five minute chat with his mother.

The film shows us the manifestation of child labour prevalent in India in the past. There is a scene in the film where a playground and another where children are shown together, it makes you understand that Selvam is deprived of his childhood. His goals are very different from other kids of his age, however he has not lost his spark of hope and innocence.

It is an old film so doesn't look interesting at first glance , in fact it looks quite dull. The story telling in the film however is admirable , but the performance by the protagonist (Selvam) is what made it film exceptional.

The film though looks dull it remains unforgettable cause of its emotional and compelling story. The story leaves you with mixed emotions of both happiness and sadness but completely satisfied.

The 18-minute short film, Tippen Box (a warped pronunciation of tiffin box), is as seen through the eyes of a school student. He is studying in Class V, in a private school, but is the son of a labourer, who despite his poverty has big dreams for him. The boy is mature for his age and all he yearns for is a colourful, plastic lunch box — the broken stainless steel container his poor mom offers is an embarrassment. But he understands that his father cannot afford it. So he prefers running home from school for lunch during break, though being late to class every afternoon, makes him incur the anger of his teacher.

   

   

Tippen Box offers several points to ponder. The hardworking boy gives an ultimatum to God that he would, like his friend, begin ‘befriending’ Jesus, if He doesn’t help him in the weekly test! Quality education is unaffordable to the poor. Teachers lack the inclination to understand the psyche of their students. Plenty is sometimes so unfairly juxtaposed with poverty and rewarded too.

The boy, who plays the student, is spontaneous, and so is the actor in the mother’s role — sad that the cast and their characters aren’t clearly cited in the credits. Certain scenes lack coherence, and glitches in editing affect the smooth narration. If director Karthik Gopal had eschewed them his work would have created a better impression.

But I think both of the movies suceeded in conveying powerful messages and it is so impactful also.

As emerging teachers, we should understand and respect the conditions of the children in the class.

Keep it simple!!!