Years ago, I had
read Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon.
I left out the end because I could make out it
was too sad and depressing. The novel was made
into a film Charly, in 1968 with minor
changes and fetched for actor Cliff Robertson
who played the title role of the slightly mentally
retarded factory worker, the Academy Award for
Best Actor in a Leading Role.
When Koushik Roy's (German Star of India at the
Stuttgart Festival winner) directorial debut Apna
Asmaan began to unfold on screen, and I heard
the 15-year-old Buddhiraj's (Dhruv) cheerful,
out-of-tune refrain of We Shall Overcome
on the soundtrack, my mind went back to Charly
from Flowers for Algernon. I was almost
beginning to think that this film was an intelligent
plagiarization of Daniel Keyes' controversial
novel. It is not. Director Koushik Roy decided
to base this film on the real-life experience
of having fathered his autistic, 17-year-old younger
son.
Ravi (Irrfan Khan) and his wife, Padmini (Shobana)
have a 15-year-old son Buddhiraj (Dhruv Piyush
Panjuani), who is slow learner. He is a cheerful
child and can draw and paint well. But he is also
the object of ridicule of his neighbours and friends,
which also leads to their shunning the company
of his parents. In desperation, one night, his
father gives him a dubious injection claimed to
have miraculous effects on the human brain and
abracadabra, Dhruv's life and that of his parents,
changes forever...
 Apna
Asmaan is not only about the vulnerability
of a slightly mentally retarded child who is an
artist of talent but cannot cope with the business
of leading the life of a normal child. It is also
a scathing attack on urban Indian parents who
cannot accept a child who is 'differently abled'
as Dr. Sen rightly comments, try to push him beyond
his limitations and choose to drown their grief
in a large deep pool of self-pity.
The film takes serious potshots at our ruthlessly
brutal social system that ignores a good-hearted,
innocent child even on a festive day like Holi
just because he does not 'belong' to the mainstream.
The academic system has no place for his kind
either and his parents are advised to institutionalize
him. His parents' married life is on shaky ground.
Then, thanks to Dr. Sathya (Anupam Kher), a dubious
scientist who claims to have discovered an injection
that can reverse brain disabilities, his desperate
father gives him the miracle injection. It turns
him into a mathematical genius within minutes.
But there is a catch – he loses his memory
completely and cannot recognize his parents. The
injection has also damaged the part of the brain
responsible for our emotional sensitivity, feelings
of love, belonging, nostalgia, and so on.
The very world that turned its back on him when
he was differently abled now turns him into a
money-churning machine, not knowing that the once-naïve
and innocent boy with the heart and brain of a
child is already a machine. His life, his mindset,
his persona and his name, everything changes towards
material affluence and national fame. His parents'
lives also change forever. They discover their
lost love for each other and at the same time,
are shocked to see the dramatic change in their
son who has turned into a cold-blooded, murderous
and greedy maniac with the brain of a genius.
What happens then? It would be unfair to give
out the climax at this point but suffice to say
that Apna Asmaan is an eye-opener for
all of us who live in a jet-paced world of affluence,
greed and one-upmanship where emotions take a
backseat, parents suffocate their children in
the name of love and genius is given a brand identity.
Buddhiraj's father, a UP-ite, is a plastic goods
salesman and his frame of reference in everything
gets back to plastic. Roy gave the father's character
this vocation with designed intent. "Love
is plastic, it never dies but only gets recycled
again and again," says Ravi to his wife as
they dine at their favourite restaurant after
a long time. This constant falling back on everything
'plastic' underscores the plasticity of contemporary
urban life where parenthood, genius, relationships,
love, success, have turned into synthetic, man-made
plastic. Juxtapose this against Dhruv's constant
refrain of ' Hum Honge Kaamyaab' and the message
comes across, loud and clear, blurring the line
between who we consider 'normal' and who we don't.
 The
film is structured as a straightforward narrative
that often dips into the psyche of the 15-year-old
Buddhiraj through scary nightmares that often
extend to similar nightmares experienced by his
parents. Dhruv Piyush Panjuani, who makes his
debut as Buddhiraj-Aryabhatta, is outstanding.
He brings out the dramatic change in character
with incredible smoothness, turning from an innocent,
slightly mentally retarded boy to the scheming,
cold-blooded, cruel and murderous young man. He
acting is defined by a near-perfect sense of timing.
Irrfan Khan whose character is also heavily shaded
between white and black, gives a brilliant performance
while Shobhana could have cut out the over-weepy
bit. Rajat Kapoor plays the doctor-friend with
his signature style, while Anupam Kher is wasted
in a role he could have done without.
Cinematographer Barun Mukherjee strikes the right
fusion between aesthetics and technical finesse.
But the music by Lesley Lewis is a bit too loud
and the songs, except the telling title song,
could have been scissored out in a film like this.
Does the technology match the disturbing content?
It does, and perhaps that is why the editing seems
a bit too jerky at times and the sound design
too loud.
Apna Asmaan is not for entertainment.
It disturbs you and educates you about aspects
of life that you do not read in books and rarely
get to watch on television or in cinema. Koushik
Roy makes a promising debut with this insight
into our own little bits and pieces of a mental
skyline that is growing smaller with every passing
day.
Shoma A Chatterji is a freelance journalist
who specialises in cinema and gender. She has
won the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema
twice.
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