Elephant Boy (2005) User Reviews

Haunting Short

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 19 August 2005]

Jai is a young boy who begs on the streets of Bombay and has hideously deformed feet . His only friend is Nisha and they are cruelly exploited by a sadistic gang master

You can guess this isn't a comedy and you won't feel like smiling while watching ELEPHANT BOY , but writer/director Rene Mohandas has crammed in more dramatic , memorable and haunting scenes than most big budget Hollywood directors achieve in a life time . It's a sad story about dreams and hope in a hopeless situation . You really feel for the characters whether you want them to achieve there dreams or get their comeuppance . Unfortunately this isn't a story where people get what they deserve

It's strange watching a film set in Bombay where a Scottish £10 note ( Worth about $18 ) in important to the subtext . It should also be pointed out that nowhere in the world do money traders accept Scottish currency and we sometimes hear about Scots going abroad on holiday with several hundred pound only to find out when they reach their destination that the local bureau de change don't accept Scottish money

Excellent story-documentary on little-known subject.

[walterfyfe · 8/10 · 28 October 2005]

Story balancing murky realism with elements of fantasy, like all good stories (e.g Mahabharata and the Irish stories contemporary with it such as "The Cattle Raid of Cooley", Deirdre, Bricriu and Oisin The streets of Bombay are, to European eyes, unrelieved misery, but if they befriend the street-dwellers they find dreams and aspirations that overcome reality. The more bullies crush, the more lively are the dreams. The world of the gang master is brutally portrayed, but the film, with its central actor, seizes on the image of a Scottish mountain to animate the dream of a child who prefers seeking that impossible image to grinding out a street-life without hope. A well scripted and well acted film.

Can film really communicate ?

[markhobson-1 · 10/10 · 29 August 2005]

Can you feel it ..the thwarting of your simple hopes and desires?

Can you imagine having nearly nothing and even that snatched from you ? What is less than nothing ?

From the very start you know he is not 'gonna make it big' But how far will he fall? Can he fall much further before death is preferable and his insides are as deformed as his body. I am making a leap here and assuming (probably wrongly ;-) that the director wishes make a comparison with David Lynch's 'The Elephant Man' where a hideously deformed person remains humane despite almost unendurable conditions. Here, the protagonist is all too frail.

Would you steal from you a decent and charitable person ? Would you slash a stranger's back in a crowd .. I would

This short invites you to imagine what it is like to be on the edge of the world and to be pushed off.

IMHO it deserves to be compared to the best of Kieslowski

A very unusual boy escapes a life of begging on the streets of Bombay by making a pilgrimage

[paulm77 · 10/10 · 19 February 2005]

A stunning, moving, poetic film with a strong story and a fantastic performance from a real? boy who suffers from a condition of having huge, deformed feet. Original and quite unlike anything I've seen before. There is a throwback to Salaam Bombay (even a nod to David Lynch!) but this film is much more contemporary in its use of images and music than Salaam. It's not urban cool like City of God but has its own style and for a short film, is just as impressive. Someone else mentioned Satyajit Ray but I don't know his films. Jai is a beggar / shoe shiner in Bombay who is given money by a tourist woman. Jai plans to use this to escape to his village and asks his begging partner, Nisha to go with him - but they are both controlled by a Beggar Master. It seems as though Jai secretly loves Nisha but this is kept as an undercurrent. Jai's escape plan backfires, and Nisha is lost to a brothel keeper. Jai slashes one of the customers in revenge and is forced to leave the city. His only possession is a photograph of the tourist woman by a Scottish mountain. When Jai can't find his way home, he determines to find his own mountain and makes a dangerous solo climb up a sacred hill top, grieving for Nisha and determined to make it. Here the film becomes much looser, dream-like and reflects Jai's inner state. In the morning, taking in the awesome view and bathed in beautiful sunlight, Jai makes his prayers. He has made it but at what price? What he is praying for, we don't really know - for himself, Nisha? Both I suspect. The fact of him having made the difficult climb despite his horrendous disability, with only faith and belief in himself to keep going, is more the point. It's a bitter-sweet ending that doesn't pull punches. An honest, humane and poignant film. A testament to anyone suffering terrible hardship and what it takes for them to get through it, even if it's just one day at a time.

excellent

[humaabbasi · 10/10 · 10 February 2005]

The film is a true portrayal of life on the streets of Mumbai. Begging is a way of life. Any deformities that individuals are born with are put out on the streets to beg as this is seen as a great tool to earn money the more deformed you are the more money you can potentially make. Unfortunately this is a thriving business. This story is one of hope. A womens act of charity by giving Raju a £50 note changes this boys life (who has feet that are severely deformed and look like elephants feet)and leads him on a soul searching journey from the streets of Mumbai to a hill top temple. It really does touch the heart. A real tearjerker. After watching this film you really do count yourself lucky and feel ashamed about complaining about the trivial things in life.

Standard narrative but generally very good performances and great all-round delivery

[bob the moo · 29 August 2005]

Using real street children in the cast was always going to be a bit of a gamble and a gimmick but it pays off in this well crafted and engaging story of one disfigured boy's experiences within the begging life. Reporting to his cruel gang master, the boy is forced to do things against his wishes and, finding he only loses day-to-day he starts to look for a way out of the city.

Although the plot is fairly obvious (looking for a way out you say?) this film is still well worth seeing for many reasons, not least of which is the portrayal of the begging culture in the biggest cities in India. We see how harsh it is, the ages of those involved and who actually benefits from their work. It is told in such a way as to be interesting throughout and drew me in gradually. It does go "up itself" a little bit towards the end and offers some form of redemption that I doubt is realistic to many street kids, but generally it is very good at creating a tangible world for the viewer. The direction is great and makes great use of locations, painting them with rich colour and vibrancy that contrasts well with Raj's situation. The cast are roundly good. Kumar gives a sensitive character although Gopal-Vagela is a bit too light and happy-go-lucky to convince as a girl who has worked in this situation for long.

Overall though, despite the straightforward narrative and unconvincing conclusions, this is still an engaging and interesting short film that frames a world well thanks to good performances and some very professional and impressive delivery from a director using great locations really well.

Elephant Boy is a beautiful piece of work

[Nadeem-11 · 10/10 · 17 September 2005]

Loved this short film.It is hauntingly beautiful and packs more into its space than a lot of movies say in much longer.The acting from the main characters was superb and I would be surprised if they had much tutoring.Being from Pakistan myself(now living in Scotland) I found it quite tragic that the Scottish tourist is corrupted by the dog eat dog world of the subcontinent and leaves seeing the young boy as just another poor user when in fact her memory is being venerated as almost divine.Even the gang master seems just another poor victim in his own way.It is a message of hope with the "elephant boy" lifting himself ,literally ,upwards.It seemed like an Indian Ken Loach.I also loved the contrast with the hypocrisy of the rich man and simple yet cleaner spirituality of the boy.You can tell I really liked this movie and was happy that its being shown at the Pakistani Film Festival in Glasgow this year where I'm sure it will be well received.

Excellent short, lived up to all expectation

[kristilynn25 · 10/10 · 25 March 2006]

I was able to see this movie at the Bermuda International Film Festival and it was fantastic. Rumor had gotten around the island about this movie and the previous showing had been sold out. When I did get to see it, it surpassed all expectations. The story has a fantastic plot and is well written, the characters engage you from the moment they first appear on the screen in the train station. It manages to show the true, gritty, and cruel world of the homeless on streets of India and how they are treated,all without coming across as "overdramatized" or "fake", the director did a fantastic job keeping it real. The two lead actors stayed true to the characters, really admirable for two people who haven't had any prior acting experience. Go see this movie, it is amazing!

simple beautiful

[dvlknc-1 · 9/10 · 2 July 2005]

Rajesh Kumar stars as a young beggar boy with a deformed leg and huge balloon like feet. He is part of a group of abandoned children overseen by a cruel Beggar Master played by Nawas Udin. His best friend and beggar partner is Nisha, a young girl, effectively played by Sangeeta Gopal Vagela. Through their teasing and affection it is clear that even in these dark streets tenderness is alive. Together they use pity for Rajesh's deformity to maximize beggar efficiency. When a Scottish woman takes pity on Rajesh and gives him a 50 pound note, a crack of hope opens the harsh reality of their lives and they allow themselves to dream of escaping. But when they return claiming to have made no money to the Beggar Master, things get worse. The rest of the story follows the two as we are swept along the river of their sad destiny. The film ends with Rajesh pulling himself up the side of a sacred mountain. His undaunted belief in the mercy of the divine, as battered as it might be by his experience, is allowed expression in the modest offering he makes at the small alter on top. The film becomes even more poignant when we learn that the deformities of the actor are not only genuine but that Rajesh is also a real beggar boy discovered by the filmmakers. And most astonishingly, he had made that exact trip up the mountain to the altar, praying for someone to come along and see his worth. Shortly after, the filmmakers appeared in his life with the scene up the mountain already part of their script. They have set up a fund that will allow him to go to school and have a place to live.