lystn

Director Amole Gupte’s Stanley Ka Dabba is a love letter to all childhood memories of school, tiffin breaks, and the joy of discovering your friends’ lunch — which invariably tasted better than your own. Starring Partho Gupte as the titular Stanley, the film offers an oblique commentary on our education system that often allows teachers to exercise unchecked control over children without any ramifications. Amole Gupte himself plays Verma Sir, popularly known as ‘Khadoos’ to his students, who takes particular pleasure in stealing his students’ tiffins and berates Stanley because he never gets his own. Perhaps the most beautiful moment of the film is one where Stanley’s friends secretly share their food with him so that Khadoos does not find out. On one hand, while the Indian education system routinely fails these young minds, the unparalleled display of humanity and kindness reassures us that not everything is bleak in this world. If you haven't watched this flick yet, you can catch it on Disney + Hotstar, Youtube, Google PlayWell, that's about the lesser-known film Stanley ka Dabba on Lost and Found, this is Nikhil signing off, for now, I shall be back with another brand new podcast soon.