Why are they called Tiffins? Tiffin is an English
word. What does it mean? I think it's used in
British English. It's old British English. Yeah.
It's British. That's why. It's British. Yeah,
you Americans. No, wait. It says South Asian
English word. Tiffin. Cambridge says tiffin noun
old use or Indian English. A small meal, especially
one that you eat in the middle of the day. See,
it's an Indian English word. Here it is. In the
British Raj, tiffin was used to denote the British
custom of afternoon tea that had been supplanted
by the Indian practice of having a light meal
at that hour. It is derived from tiffing, an
English colloquial term meaning to take a little
drink. By 1867, it had become naturalized among
Anglo -Indians in northern India. Welcome to
Fear of Saras, Desi Films Decoded, the podcast
where four friends from different backgrounds
unlock the world of Desi cinema. I'm Winnie,
the Desi who's never been to India. Hey, I'm
Kili. I'm from India. And I love films. And I
have a cat. My name is Nikki, and I'm a formerly
happy fat kid. So you're a currently sad fat
kid? I guess so. Fat adult. I'm Adam. I'm the
American movie buff, and today I learned about
Dabba Wallah's... Delivery men. Tiffin boys.
Tiffin boys. Nikki, you could have said, like,
I'm Nikki. I'm the guy who bring Dabba's to the
podcast. Nikki made food. He made very, very
delicious Thai food and then put it in a never
-before -used tiffin box, and it was lovely.
He brought a dabba to the dabba podcast. Yes.
He's been to Dabba Dabba Island. And we all learned
today that Nikki can cook. Yeah, you've been
holding that secret bag for a while, too. I feel
like I've mentioned it in the past, but I feel
like there was a sense of like... non -believing
oh yeah because you've never done it before once
so of course not what is the tiffin box can we
explain first before so it's very prominent in
india as you'll soon find out but also in southeast
asia uh tiffin boxes are basically like lunch
boxes but they're like stacked together in layers
and then you use that you know transport food
so why did you choose this movie and what is
it killy Okay, so today's film is Stanley Ka
Dabba. So I was thinking of like doing a podcast
on a kid's film. And recently, Amir Khan came
up with this film with Sitarizamin Par, which
is like a spiritual sequel of Tarizamin Par,
which is a really good film. Tarizamin Par is
about a dyslexic kid, but whatever, I'm diverting.
So I thought, like, we have done so many of Amir
Khan's films. But Taraz Amir Khan was written
by Amol Gupte. And I thought, like, okay, why
don't we watch some other films by him? And then
I saw, like, sadly, I didn't watch it before.
But anyway, so I saw this film, Stanley Kadabba,
which is like a kid's film. And he loves working
with kids. And then it was... uh well reviewed
uh people have said good things about it and
i had a gut feeling that it might be interesting
to watch it well actually there was another reason
why we picked it we were gonna pick this one
other one other movie which we don't i'm not
gonna mention because that's spoiler alert we'll
do it at some point but we wanted to find a shorter
alternative rather than like watch like a three
-hour epic movie yeah so we you googled like
movies that are an hour and a half and that luckily
showed up but yeah but but seriously though uh
we we did the right thing i enjoyed this movie
i liked it we are raising hands who enjoyed the
films yeah you cannot see it is it a kid is it
for kids i think so i would have enjoyed it as
a kid Definitely. Well, I just can't tell. Is
it a kid's movie or is it like a movie about
kids for adults to watch? Both. And you kind
of see illustrations of characters that is quite
childish and would be appealing to kids at the
same time. I think this is pretty extreme, but
in my opinion, it reminded me of Salaam Bombay.
I kept bringing that up too. Yeah, Adam did.
But I feel like it was quite different, the setting,
the environment. Of course, it's a totally different
class. Except for they were both centered around
kids, honestly. There were no similarities other
than that. They were kind of produced in a similar
way. yeah yeah yeah we i want to get into let's
go through the plot but i do want to talk about
comparisons too i'm glad you brought it up because
i think they're pretty stark about how it's filmed
direction wise but let's do the plot okay it'll
take one second so go for it no it's not very
long but i'll start with the characters first
basically it takes place in this like all boys
yeah yeah catholic school is like a church like
it's run by this father you have the titular
stanley he's like this talented boy who is loved
by all he's like very popular he's very smart
he's very creative but something seems off right
like he shows up with some bruises on his face
and we won't find that out until much later and
you have his classmates Just a bunch of boys.
There's like the rich chubby kid. Yeah. I call
him the rich chubby kid because he's like the
only one that brings in like a big lunchbox,
like a really large one. He rules though. He
rules. Like he's super nice. I think his name
is Amun. And yeah, he was not a bully or anything.
And that's like one of the upsides of the movie
because you see this kid have a really positive
experience in school. Where everyone's willing
to share with him. Everyone's so nice to him.
At least when it comes to kids. The adults are
painted in a bit more of a villainous way. I
really like that. And yeah, he defined all the
stereotypes as like he was rich and had all the
food and was super nice and generous. It was
very cool. In your school, were they nice like
this? Or is this realistic? Oh yeah, I rarely...
Yeah, bullying was not that prevalent. And then
if someone is a bully, people would gang up on
the bully eventually and then shut them down.
That's cool. What a good school, actually. And
then you have the teachers. You have, like, your
principal, the holy man. You have, like, Miss
Rosie. She's, like, this sweet English teacher
who sees Stanley's potential. And she's gorgeous.
She's pretty. She's so pretty. Like, she has
such a nice smile. She's too pretty for a teacher.
It's distracting. I told... Sorry. I told Woody...
So... These kids are, like, 12 or whatever, right?
Like, you guys know, like, you get random boners
all the time in school. I actually did not know
that until Adam kind of spelled it out, like,
how easily it was to get boners as a teenager.
As a tool. But these were, like, eight, ten.
No, I was getting a random boner watching the
eight -year -old. That's what I was trying to
explain to her. Cut, cut, edit. No, in that time,
though, like. Number one, if teachers or students,
you can't control it. It doesn't even matter,
actually, if anyone's hot or not. But I went
to a private Lutheran school, not Catholic, for
elementary school and stuff. And I told her we'd
have to hide our boners behind Bibles and stuff
a lot. Elementary school? Yeah. Junior high,
up until eighth grade. It was kindergarten to
eighth grade. But yeah, so I just had strong
memories watching this. And we should note, this
school is all boys. And a lot of female teachers.
All female teachers, except for one. I just want
to go back. I did have boners, too. I did have
boners, too. That's normal, yes. I was in junior
high school. There was this math teacher. She
had really big... Badonkadonks. And I know everyone
was like staring at them nonstop. And I know
there were times where I literally had to hide.
I can't control it, man. It just happens. If
you're a boy, there's nothing you can do. And
like, again, even if no one's hot, even if you're
just alone at church. with nothing like you know
you just things happen like you can't it sucks
you can't walk you're constantly afraid of the
teacher calling on you it's a real thing can
you get a boner if there's just like a male teacher
who you're not remotely attracted to like is
there still a level of attraction required it
has literally nothing to do with attraction it's
a physical it's your body going crazy just happens
so it just randomly happens for no reason and
then you cannot walk Cause it's like visible.
And like, you're just always afraid. Like, please
don't call me teacher. Please don't make me do
a group presentation. Please not now. It randomly
came up again. It sucks. It's so, and it's, you're,
I'm amazed that you're not aware of it. And that's
amazing. The boy's ability to hide it. Talk about
this a little bit more. I should talk about boy
boners more. There are times where you just yawn
and it just happens. I yawn and it, it just,
it just, yeah. I don't know. And then, like,
at that point, I'm like, shit, I can't stand
up. You can't stand up. Might as well be Christian
so you always have a Bible to hide it with. That
worked out for you, huh, Adam? That's why you
see all those Mormon guys walking around the
street with that. It's because they're hiding
boners, dude. All right, back to the teachers.
This is our kids movie. Not a kid -friendly episode.
Kelly's been mysteriously silent about this topic,
though. Kelly's just like, why are we talking
about boners? That's a bit too late. boomer oh
yeah we're getting random boners at like 16 yeah
that sucks okay we can move on okay we don't
want you to talk about this so gorgeous english
teacher miss rosie she's like loved by all the
kids and you also have this like really strict
science teacher who's like super by the books
creativity is not allowed and there's also like
some history male teacher that comes in later
in the movie. He gets hired, right? He gets hired,
but I don't understand the point of this character.
He has elf ears. Would you guys look at his ears?
He was just one of those cool teachers. That's
the point. I think it's because there's only
one male teacher and we'll find that he's the
antagonist and they had to just show there can
be some good male teachers. Exactly. I didn't
think about that, but now that you said it, that
makes sense. They're all super angelic, nice
women. And then, like, a mean guy. But there's
mean female teachers, too. And this mean teacher,
he's, like, the antagonist. He's played by the
director. Oh, I did not know that. He's the director.
And Stanley's his son. What? Yeah. It's crazy.
But, like, his name is, like, Verma. So I think
he's, like, one of the most despicable characters
I've seen. In a long time. Interesting. Yeah,
you're right. Maybe just the whole setup. Like
Winnie was saying earlier today, he's very cartoonishly
evil. But I just like his trait. He's this guy
that gets so obsessed about food. He just constantly
thinks about eating food. He has this very unashamed,
selfish attitude towards food. food in the sense
that he would just steal people's lunches he
never brings his own lunches and he he always
takes food from other teachers in the teacher's
room as well yeah just to see how how much of
a bastard he is funny thing is everyone willingly
gives him food whether it's out of fear out of
bullying because the children will cave and give
him food but the teachers also do but maybe the
teachers almost do it out of pity so that he
would stop taking food from other kids but Everyone
kind of just gives in to him. He's like Pac -Man.
Or like a hungry, hungry hippo or something.
He just continually exists to eat other people's
food and shit. And if he was in the movie Seven,
he'd get killed for gluttony. He's a glutton.
I didn't understand the character at first because
it's so ridiculous. Get your own food, dude.
This is not an issue. But I guess the whole point
of this character is to show that I think the
movie kind of mentions it. Like, there's just,
like, unqualified, authoritative figure. The
movie explores a lot of power dynamics, and this
is one of them. Yes. And he feels no shame, absolutely
whatsoever. And the kids are obviously afraid
of him to some degree. Yeah. And the teachers.
Yeah, he is definitely portrayed as a bully.
So, yeah, it starts off with Stanley. Like, he
goes to school. He just shows up in class with
bruises. and we get to see miss rosie ask him
you know what happened and the audience gets
to see that stanley is a very he likes to embellish
like like fibs he lies he lies a lot i could
have just said that yeah he he makes up stories
he makes up excuses miss rosie finds that cute
you know like uh it's just amusing and it also
wins uh the laughter of his mates it quickly
establishes that stanley is this like uh wildly
creative guy and he makes everyone laugh he's
like just fun to be around with i mean he's probably
getting good grades for creative writing because
he's such a liar so he has like a huge imagination
and then like writes really good stories about
it in the school there's been like some pandemic
or virus or something and then they decide to
like extend the the class schedule by adding
extra periods so the kids are required to bring
bigger lunch boxes, which excites Verma. It's
a weird plot. When I say it, it does sound weird.
Yeah, you're right. This is the main conflict
of the story. Verma finds out that all the kids
have bigger lunch boxes now. And he spends his
entire class asking the kids what did they bring
for lunch? And he would just unashamedly sit
with the kids and... eat their lunches oh my
god like a tax collector like he would just he
just sits there and like all the kids are just
helplessly watching him eat their lunch stanley
doesn't have any lunch stanley never brings lunch
but the kids are willing to share with him because
he's you know again he's very popular and he
tries not he makes excuses sometimes he's like
no i'm gonna go home like i you know fresh food
there and he's like lying yeah and he mentioned
his parents were away right and that's why he
didn't have any lunch that scene broke my heart
when he was like just drinking water to suppress
her hunger like he just goes to the washroom
and just drinks water days after days and then
just walks out and saying like oh i'm going for
the hot food my mom's gonna cook and he always
brings up his mom that his mom gonna cook hot
food for him and he just goes out stands next
to the like in some other street and like looks
at the cars and then just comes back after the
lunch is over that that scene was like yeah really
emotional so the kids had to have double the
size of their lunches and then like verma is
like stealing all the food and he sees stanley
right not having his own lunchbox and like verma
always likes to like berate the kid for not bringing
his own lunchbox but he doesn't bring his own
either it's very hypocritical right the kids
are willing to help share the lunch right and
because they know that verma is like preying
on their food every day the middle of the movie
they they basically try to trick verma by telling
him that you know they're they'll be sitting
at this one location when they in fact they're
like hiding away from him so that it would distract
verma like verma would hunt the children down
so that he could eat their lunch It sounds ridiculous
when I say it, but, like, when you watch it,
it just makes sense. Like a T -Rex thing. And,
like, basically... They put a goat outside for
Verma to, like, rush at. The kids are just, like,
hiding from Verma, eating their lunches. And
we should know, during the same time, the teachers
are also bummed about Verma. Like, they're having
to give food and shit, too. And, like, he's just...
running on everyone. And then I guess at one
point Verma finally catches the kids hiding on
the roof of the school. It was like a moment
where he kind of tells Stanley that if you don't
bring your own lunchbox you can't come to school.
But I think he says it out of embarrassment because
like the kids were just hiding from him because
they knew he would eat the lunch. And that's
when Stanley disappears and we learn that Stanley
doesn't have a home to go back to because like
Keely mentioned Like, he's just, like, standing
outside of school, standing on the street, hiding
from people. Yeah. And then at some point, like,
they realized, like, the kids never, like, said
anything. But then, like, I think there's a scene
where you can tell Verma is kind of, like, guilty
about it. That Stanley hasn't come back to school.
And then, you know, it blows up in where the
kids confronted Miss Rosie and said, like, yo,
you know, Verma chased Stanley away and we...
We can't find him. Yeah, which is crazy. And
so she instantly goes to him and is like, what
are you doing? What are you doing? You have no
shame. She was saying like that. You have no
shame. While that's happening, the school is
basically setting up this like international
theater arts festival. Because like Stanley has
been expelled in quotation marks, has been expelled
from the school. He doesn't know about it. But
then, you know, his classmates are so sweet.
They hear about this contest and they're like,
Stanley's the right. person to be in this contest
so like they actually made an effort to track
him down and then like Talk to him about it.
Which I thought was really nice, right? What
does he do? He sings? He was, like, dancing.
Oh, yeah. Dancing or something. And then, like,
because... He emcees as well. He emcees as well.
But then, like, Stanley was doing that outside
of school, right? He was just, like, sneaking
off to rehearse and stuff. And then, like, basically,
like, the management of the theater arts festival
took notice of him. And then, like, while that's
happening, right? Like, Stanley has to get a
tapa, right? And... I don't know how to explain
it, but it does it in a way where you don't know
how he ends up with the tapa. Yeah, correct.
I kept missing. I kept rewinding. I'm like, what
did I miss? And nothing. It just flash cuts to
him holding that. And I still don't... Do you
have an answer? That's very intentional. You
get the answer at the end of the movie. But I
think they had to skip it to kind of keep the
mystery towards the end. I didn't connect that
until just now. We get a transition where there
was like... food cooking exactly and it looks
so delicious and then like you don't know why
that transition happens but then the next thing
you know he's holding a tapa and they will find
out eventually see this is this is why i'm asking
if it's a kid's movie because this is so complicated
and confusing why no i'm kidding i'm kidding
i just didn't connect until now yeah but it's
a very battered tapa it's not a shiny steel one
like some of the other kids have it looks kind
of like old and medley but like the moment he
like it was blue it was like rusted yeah it's
been used yeah um but no but he but then he pulls
it out of the thing and it's actually pretty
nice it was a double in a double yeah double
assumption and then it was like the most like
it's like stanley being stanley right he he literally
like has this tapa now and then like he goes
right up to verma and says here it is I have
my lunchbox now. And he actually offers the whole
thing. He offers the whole food to Verma and
he just basically looks at him and said, can
I come back to school now? And Verma, I think
that was the sudden realization that Verma is
a monster. I would have preferred my alternative
ending where the kids grab all their tiffin boxes
and beat the shit out of him. Yeah, or like he
gets hung outside the schoolyard or something.
But the other female teacher also plays a big
role in Verma reaching this conclusion, right?
She kind of gives him off in the teacher's room
and asks him if he had any right to expel Stanley
for such things. And basically called him out
for all his selfishness and stealing of food.
And the father, the priest. later was like yeah
that guy sucks my thing an important element
is that he came to that awareness by himself
like nobody chased him out literally right he
you kind of see him with his head down in shame
like he was in full admission of what he did
wrong Yeah, I was expecting, like, a little retaliation
like villains would do, right? Exactly. But then
it's not. He literally sees the error of his
ways and accepts it. You know, like, how we could
watch some superhero movies and then, like, the
hero and the villain has the same, similar origin
story, like Iron Man or, like, Minal Murali where
we watched, right? So, it kind of, like, I just,
I was, yeah, it kind of, like, same. Like, they
both have the same thing that, like, Stan Lee
doesn't bring food and the villain doesn't bring
food. But we see, like, the villain. always wants
the food and then like everyone hates him for
that and Stanley is like so loved by everyone
and everyone like go out of their way to like
feed Stanley it is a good point like they're
they're like bizarro versions of each other and
one's old one's young one's a student one's a
teacher they both don't bring lunches but Stanley
is likable And so like, yeah, people give them
food, not out of compulsion, but because they
like him. And then he has to demand it because
he's like an ugly person and people don't want
to be around him. And so he's like forced to
be uglier by demanding it instead. Yeah, it's
interesting. You see, what's interesting, though,
is like as you're watching this movie, you obviously
keep wondering why Stanley doesn't bring food.
And, like, the whole movie is just kind of a
slow unwrapping of that, right? And you see a
lot of, like, red flags quite early in the movie
where he shows up with a bruise. You know, right
away. Like, I knew right away. I was like, oh,
this is a child abuse story. So there are bruises.
He's showing up without lunches. But at the same
time, the movie is taking place against such
a happy background of school. Like, you know,
where this almost comical thing is going on between
the children and the teacher. And then you see
a lot of kindness from the children. So it's
almost a happy setting with, of course, like,
this villainous teacher. But it's still in a
safe setting, right? Like he's just stealing
their food. He's not doing anything cruel to
them per se, like directly to them. But then
at the same time, you know, like behind the scenes,
there's something much more severe going on.
And it almost bothered me about the movie that
this unwrapping was so slow. It was hard for
me to enjoy the rest of the movie or even that
dynamic between the teacher and the kids because
I just kept wondering. What is up with Stanley?
Like, is he okay? What is his backstory? And
you keep waiting for it to happen, but you're
like an hour into an hour and a half movie and
there's still no signs. He's still just making
up stories, you know, like, yeah. And I don't
know. I think that is the beauty of the film
in many ways. And that is what makes it a kid's
movie. You know, it's digestible. It's not too
harsh. And then there's still this like underground
darker story, but at the same time, it also is
exactly what bothered me about the film. I, yeah,
I, I, I think I agree because like, yeah, the
first scene he comes in with a bruise, right?
So, you know, something's up and then you're
just waiting to get to that point to see why.
So I was just like, let's just get to that so
that we can like enjoy the film or something.
But you know, you know that this point is coming.
And as the clock keeps going, you're like, when
is this going to kick in? And that's not even
the resolution of the film. That revelation comes
after the resolution of the film. So this is
like out of the scope of the film's arc. It's
like an epilogue. It's like an epilogue, for
sure. I mean, I kind of like that fact that it's
beyond the film's scope of dealing with that
huge problem. So they deal with the smaller problem
in school. But if it wasn't for the Stanley subplot,
this movie would be like Home Alone. It'd be
like the kids versus an adult. kind of be humorous.
The adult's kind of funny. But then they just
insert this that's kind of running through the
whole thing. So it's kind of hard to enjoy because
there's this starving kid this whole time that's
lying about not having a home and stuff. It really
burdens the film. So it can't be super funny,
but you're just waiting for this. It's hard to
enjoy as well because you're just waiting for
that hammer to drop. Exactly. What's the hammer?
What's the resolution? We get like the finale
where Stanley gets to perform at that theater
arts festival. Everyone loves it. Also, Stanley
is infallible. He's super cool, does everything
very well. It is a little fantasy. Everyone loved
it. And you get to see this quick little scene
where he's just standing as usual outside, waiting
for nothing. And Miss Rosie congratulates him,
and they offered him a ride home. And he says
no, because his mother is going to pick him up.
But then later on, the father, the priest, he
comes to Stanley and offers to take him home,
which he agrees. And then he drops off Stanley
in the vicinity of where he lives. And then we
get to see that Stanley... Sorry, before we get
to that one moment. i when i did you guys have
this when he's in the car with the priest was
anyone freaked out a little bit yeah okay oh
my gosh adam would not shut up about this i was
a little terrified yeah i was treating i was
like this is it was filmed like a horror film
because it was like the camera was only in the
car it's only a horror film because he's dressed
as a priest let's be honest Well, yes, but that
is a huge motive. And the priest is driving around
the car. It's dark at night. The kid's alone.
He doesn't have parents. We know the camera's
not leaving the car and the kid's in the backseat
and it's dwarfing the kid. So he looks really
small in the frame. And I'm like, Jesus Christ,
like this is dark. And I was like flipping out.
And I was like, this is how he becomes an altar
boy. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, this is really,
really, I didn't know it was going to go here.
Like this is messed up. And it was, it was super
nice. Like the guy was like, okay, bye. and the
kid gets dropped off. But like the way it was
filmed was like a horror movie. And even without
that, just, you know, a Catholic priest with
a little boy in a car at night is like iffy.
But I was really freaked out for a second. So
I think that means like the priest, like the
father would, father knew Stanley's situation
because he's like an administrator of the office.
I don't think he knew, man. Well, he dropped
Stanley off at exactly where Stanley is. Of course,
he wouldn't see the inside. But he took Stanley
home. He didn't buy the story that his mom was
coming to pick him up. Yeah. Also, he's the administrator
of the school. Like, I don't think Stanley can
pay fees. I want to bring this up after this
too. So he knows his situation. I think he knows
his situation and it's like a charity student.
Is that the situation? Let's finish and then
I'll get into it because I have a huge question
about that. All right. I'll try and wrap up this
kid's movie. So anyway, in this kid's movie...
It's really complicated. Don't worry, Nikki.
I feel bad for you. In this kid's movie... After
the whole subtle pedo -like scene. Which isn't.
It's just my imagination. No, I felt the same
way. I was terrified for Stanley, man, because
they didn't show the priest's face. He was like,
let's go home, Stanley. And then there's a hand
that just leads Stanley into a car. I was literally
terrified, man. I don't know if they filmed it
on purpose like that, but it was a horrific part
of the film. Would you guys have been terrified
if he was not a priest? Less so, less so. yeah
okay it's just like it's still weird seeing a
lot of those things horror stories man anyway
check the cover it's x -rayed i'm like what movie
is this this is an hour in uh yeah okay so we
did find out that the place that the priest dropped
it was like uh i'll just say it's like a street
food restaurant a street food restaurant and
then you see like this angry angry like head
chef owner type of character and right away he
just slaps stanley and then he gives like exposition
to expositional dialogue where he was saying
like oh your parents died in a bike crash and
i have to live and me as your uncle my bro like
my my brother and his and his wife died in that
crash and i have to deal with the bad omen like
you like it's like okay yeah winnie you're right
it's like they quickly like drop this whole,
like, bombshell of a plot twist at the very end.
Yeah. At the very end. And he does, yeah, the
exposition in one line. He, like, explains the
entire backstory in one sentence. In one sentence.
It was too quick. And we find out, yeah, so that's
a twist. Like, Stanley, his parents died in an
accident. and now he has this like very abusive
uncle that like he's so he's like forced to like
work shifts at this restaurant and he's been
like going to school skipping his shifts and
that's why he's getting beaten up pretty much
but not everything is bad uh we get to see in
the very beginning like in the early scenes of
the movie you know the scene where he builds
like that lighthouse you see a guy like a shirtless
dude that walks into like the classroom looking
all like lost and stuff and then like he actually
helps stanley build that lighthouse you don't
know who that character is but then we find out
at the very end it's like one of the chefs at
this restaurant who who basically feels sorry
for stanley and like he basically like helps
stanley out by uh you know leaving getting all
the leftover food and putting it in a tapa and
then like just letting stanley like take the
lunchbox behind his uncle's uh back basically
and we get to see him like them basically like
clean up the restaurant and like it's like basically
like this this chef is like a brother figure
to him i would say And it's very heartwarming,
though. It was just such a huge, total whiplash
for me. Yeah, I guess you're right. When I think
about it now, it does feel a little sudden. It's
very rushed at the end. Yeah. I like the dialogue
they have that he's like, why didn't you just
ask for the food before? So that's what I was
thinking. So he's from a restaurant. Like, why
is not being in the bus before? And then, I mean,
so they address it right away. Like, he's like,
why didn't you ask me before? And then he's like,
no, is it my food? Is it my... uncle's food so
i i mean that part like it also goes with stanley's
character of like self -respect that like he
doesn't want to steal his uncle's food like even
though he's not gonna abuse a piece of piece
of shit and isn't the film for like child abuse
people and stuff what do you mean child abuse
people like Is it against? Like, people for,
yeah. It's not for. Obviously, it's not like,
this is the PSA, please go beat your child and
starve them. No. No, wasn't it like they worked
with schools and were addressing the issue or
something? Did I make that up? And, you know,
now that we know this revelation, right? Stanley
goes back to school, acting all normal, and we
get to see this really nice scene. a kind of
nice scene where he kind of like shares the food
from his lunchbox and throughout the credits
roll and we get to see Stanley not telling the
truth he just basically lies that his mother
is still cooking for him yeah so he's still an
asshole and it should be called Stanley the liar
we have to use the term lie like pretty lightly
here right like he comes from a pretty sad background
and I think he's just he has to you see like
he's very good at making up creative stories,
right? Throughout the movie. And I think when
you come from, when he's living the life that
he is, it's pretty much the child labor and exploitation
and abuse all in one. Like you kind of need to
have a imaginative, happy state in order to get
through that. And you see that really play out
throughout the movie where despite his background
and his, like where he comes from, he's still
a very happy kid and he's performing well in
school. He's nice to his friends. He's liked.
And so that does not define him. um but yeah
so i'd say he's not a liar per se he's just a
probably a traumatized child trying to survive
the world he's in no he's canceled i think i
think also like when you really come from the
like a like a like that kind of background and
then like everyone else is like having like their
parents and all the love and like you kind of
want to mix with them like you know be like one
with them and so like you cook up this story
that i also have a mother i'm not motherless
you you're i mean everyone's love mother loved
them like they cook food for them and he doesn't
have that so i mean he want to assimilate with
the kids and like yeah so he always carries on
with this story like you know like that's i think
that's kind of pretty common with kids yeah as
a kid all you want to do is good things about
their home fit in right you just want to fit
in you don't want to stand out you don't want
to feel be pitied or anything wait he's just
trying to be normal how is he in this school
so yeah so that's what i'm saying like this is
a christian missionary school so they will definitely
have charity students okay because because they
it's a good school like they're speaking english
yeah and like you know it's uh nice conditions
the tables are nice like it's a nice building
and i was like if he's if he's being neglected
this much and he's not even being given food
Why is he in the school? Did they say like how
old was he like when his parents died? Like was
it mentioned? I mean, it can be like explained
in many ways. But like what I could say is like,
OK, maybe his parents like rolled him in in the
school and then they passed away. The father
knows about the situation that his parents has
passed away and he's living with his uncle and
then doesn't ask for money because there is no
source of income for him anymore. It is interesting
to compare, though, to Salon Bombay. Correct.
neglected kid all things considered he's pretty
you know he's in a good school he's you know
uh his father he still has like a father figure
and like the priest is actually cool and not
like assaulting him and he has really nice friends
and he's getting good education he speaks english
and all this stuff pretty good all things considered
slump on bay was like slum slum like these kids
are like neglected like they're like out on their
own basically which is very interesting contrast
i just think the comparison i that we're making
is because like they both end in a very like
unresolved way it's also filmed very differently
in slum bombay you feel like you're with the
kids at their eye level the whole time and it's
filmed from their perspective basically and spends
a lot of alone time with the kids and and you
feel really Like in the same space as these kids
at their level and how they kind of see adults
and how they see the world around them. And this
movie was the opposite, I thought. Like a lot
of the cameras kind of panned down on the kid
instead of like at their eye level. And you don't
spend a lot of time just with them alone in a
space like hanging out or, you know, it always
feels like you're a little distance from the
kids. Interesting. Yeah. So I was checking out
like Amal Gupta's interview for a bit and then
like how it was produced and stuff like that.
So he's actually also like similar to Meera Nair.
Like he has like kind of this child activity.
Like he works for children's, works for like
children's films, like theater and stuff like
that. And he's advocates for like proper treatment
of children in film industry. Like he says these
things a lot of times. that like, you know, like
child actors goes through like a bad childhood
because like homeschooling is not that huge option
in India. So they stays out of the schools for
a long period of time for the shooting. And then
they're like tossed away after the production
is done. They think they're a star, but they're
nothing. Disney kids, adult star stuff. Yeah.
And homeschooling is not that huge thing in India.
And it's also like... takes away a lot of certain
things from childhood so he did this film like
and he advocates for it a lot so he's like okay
only weekends don't doesn't miss class and max
four to five hours per day shooting and then
like so he kind of did with like workshopping
with kids and while workshopping he shot the
film so it took like almost like over a year
to produce the film and then he just finished
the film so yeah so then it's mostly with his
and his friends money like crowd soul car crowd
funded film and later sold to Fox cinema with
and Karan Johar helped him to sell the film to
Fox so that was a good thing Karan did no songs
in this movie and the movie didn't have a proper
like a fixed script right like a lot of it was
just improvised where he just let the children
do some of the talking to like capture their
innocence did you read that as well no no I didn't
read that talk about it yeah Yeah, that was mainly
it. There was no fixed script. He just had an
idea about the plot arc that he wanted to capture.
But then some of the scenes in the classroom
and such were just natural dynamics between the
children. And they were not trained actors as
well, right? They were just regular children.
Yeah. I just want to add to the whole help advocating
for children. It's worth noting that the final
message the film has is there are a lot of Stanleys
out there. getting like taken advantage of through
their family members doing like child labor that
was the thing that they mentioned but the thing
you adam said uh that's kind of i was kind of
cooking on that uh like the the difference with
the salam bomb in the matter of fact that like
both have like a stressed childhood but one person
is in a better condition and one i think that
that kind of talks about the reality in india
it's like he comes from a family that who could
like get into the society of like k like school
proper school like english -speaking school and
stuff so even though they fall that his parents
fallen out he has like an extremely traumatic
childhood and everything but he still is still
in the system so If he hangs in tight, he will
get through it. While Salam Mohamed feels like
there is no way out for those kids. Because they
come from this remote village. They have no connection,
nothing. He just came in from the village and
then just got picked up by this drug addict,
another hobo. And then he goes in that zone.
I mean, if he had someone who... we're doing
something in the city like a proper job or something
and pick him up or meet him later his fortune
might have changed but like it's like it's two
realities existing in the same city that is bombay
side by side and which is their kind of reality
like both are very realistic i'd say and what
jobs are acceptable or not because this In Salon
Bombay, the girl's mom was a prostitute. She
was deprived of a good school because of her
parents' occupation and stuff. And because they
own a restaurant, the kid can go to a good school.
I don't think the Catholics would take a bunch
of prostitute orphans. Philosophy Corner. So
we were watching this movie and I was like, this
movie feels like kids bop Shawshank Redemption.
Okay? Because it all takes place in the school.
And so like the way it's filmed and the way they
film the kids and then they film the teachers
and the people involved, it looks like a prison.
And it's filmed like a prison movie where all
the kids are kind of in there together and like
they're helping each other and giving each other
food and trying to work within the system. And
then you have the guards, right, which are the
female teachers that are kind of. I mean, you
know, again, it's loose. They're not, you know,
they care for the kids. They're really nice.
But they are under pressure by Verma, right?
Because he's kind of the authority figure. And
it's not a mistake that he's the only male for
a while. So he's like exerting disciplinary pressure
on the women to do it to the kids. And then on
top of him is the Catholic priest, right? So
you have like religion on top of that. You see
a ton of power dynamics at play, okay? And also,
this is a very... Well, whether we like it or
not, or no, we're doing it or not, we always
film things or make stories or talk in the ideologies
that we have, right? So this director, maybe
he was aware that he was doing like a prison
type movie. But then within this movie, these
are very individualized problems, right? Like
this kid, one kid doesn't have lunch. And the
solution is to get rid of the teacher that's
stealing it. It's like weird individualistic.
ways to solve problems and stuff. There's this
philosopher called Foucault. Postmodernist. Yeah,
he's a postmodernist philosopher and his main
bent is about like power dynamics, either like
through sexuality or education or prison systems,
you know, throughout the whole thing. He is very.
much not a Marxist. And I could get into that
a bit. He's anti -Marxist. He's anti -Marxist.
And I will bring this up. He was introduced and
translated by the CIA. I know that sounds kooky,
but it is true. It's real. And I'm not joking.
The CIA did translate his work and introduce
him into colleges to give kids something else
besides Marx to read. He is a very stark contrast.
But what he talks about basically is just. the
power dynamics within systems and basically that
those cannot be broken so you have an ever -changing
web of power dynamics and people exerting uh
disciplinary action on each other and how you
have small forms of resistance to that but how
it can never be broken because there's always
just going to be like forms of control and you
see that in school like i said with the teachers
and the students you see with the religion aspect
with the father kind of extolling like those
power dynamics of like a higher authority onto
everyone. And then the male teacher is exerting
his kind of God or society given authority to
pressure the female teachers, to give him food,
to not rat him out when he steals food from the
kids and stuff like that. The kids to resist
against this, uh, they do band together and they
give Stanley food and stuff. But the end of the
day, the movie is saying they just had to kind
of fight back at this one teacher. and kick him
out, and he had to kind of realize the errors
of his ways. A lot of these power dynamics remain
in place within the school. They're still in
a prison dynamic, but they did this small resistance
this one time, and this is how they won out.
If you're doing a Marxist analysis, honestly,
this movie doesn't exist if the school just provides
lunches. If the school has a cafeteria where
teachers and kids can all eat for free, the movie's
gone. It's very easy to fix, honestly. It's just
a structural change. You distribute resources
so everyone gets food. We're done. But this is
a very Foucaultian view of it where it's all
very individualistic. There's nothing we can
really do about it. And you're just watching
how you can kind of give resistance in small
ways to these eternal problems. But India doesn't
live in a Marxist system, right? But the one
act of... dealing with the problem what we see
from the kids it's pretty communist like we have
food you don't have we give you uh like we share
our food and like like and then they go go out
of their way to band together and help the person
like who I mean, they definitely clock that thing,
even though they don't know like what exactly.
They call their parents and it's like the phone
is there. The number doesn't exist. And so they
realize that something is off and they don't
pressurize him to like tell what is going on.
But so they don't they don't go into that much
that like why you are not bringing food. We are
all bringing food. You should also bring food.
Then only we can be same friends. No, they don't
go there. They just like we have food. Aman has
like way more food than he needs. Just share.
That was like the one temporary act of difference.
But that's their form of resistance. And yes,
often you have to band together to help each
other, but they don't change the system. They
don't demand that the school provide free lunches.
They just help their friend out in this one instance.
And the kids might band together, but from the
movie's point of view, they're just throwing
a Band -Aid on it because they're not demanding
any structural changes whatsoever. They're just
fighting this one guy and that's kind of it.
There is like a midday meal system in India like
that. It created a lot of like let that reduce
the school dropout in villages a lot. That was
just giving food to kids so that like parents
would just send their kids so that they can have
food. That's it. It's super simple. Poor people
like who like whose main struggle in life is
like getting like food on their plate two times.
So they just send their kids because they know
that. kids gonna get food at school so the school
dropout rate drastically reduced after introduction
of midday meal system i mean in america too kids
have like lunch debt and stuff and they have
to like buy lunches like not all schools provide
lunches and it's like bizarre like they get kicked
out of school that's also very much based on
the government right because under biden they
really increased like assistance to to school
lunches and now trump has rolled back significantly
funding for food assistance programs which then
affects the amount of food that goes local foods
that goes to schools as well and that definitely
affects children everywhere because especially
when you are very from very impoverished backgrounds
a lot of kids school might be the only meal that
they get right and yeah but these are government
cuts that are deemed necessary black panther
started by giving out free meals to kids it's
revolutionary huh it is kids need food austerity
program are pushed by world bank and international
what is that imf internal monetary fund they
push push austerity to governments so that they
cut funding to these social programs the imf
just had a law called the stanley law where they
said that kids have to buy their own lunches
if a country is going to get funding so thanks
stanley that's what imf does like we will only
give you loan if you cut down austerity yeah
make sure the kids do not eat i will not give
you money Okay, closing thoughts? I can't believe
that you don't like the movie. Look at what you're
all talking about. I'm not saying... It's a great
movie. Damn it. I love the film. I love the film.
I'm raising my hand. It was just uneven. Yeah.
I don't know. I feel very neutral. I do like
it. I think, like I expressed, I think it was
just very slow towards the end. I think I was
more interested in the backstory and why his
situation was that way. But I can... appreciate
that the way was able to convey that message
while still remaining quite light -hearted you
know you can you can show this to kids you probably
wouldn't want to watch salam bombay with your
children you know it's a little bit too heavy
for kids to absorb maybe no that's an adult film
for sure like 16 year old kids getting sold into
brothel it's the kind of movie that kind of weighs
on you this kind of movie gives you hope it instills
hope and that's a big difference which i think
we touched on earlier so i can appreciate that
but I just wish it dug into that a little bit
more. The movie ends in such a rapid way where
you see his situation. You see him sleeping on,
like, that cold metal thing, cold metal surface
in the kitchen. I love that the kids were not
bullies. I honestly love that. Like, I really
don't like movies where kids are just horrible
to each other. And I do think this is realistic.
Like, honestly, the friends in my school were
really nice, too, and Killy's. And, like, I think
that is kind of realistic. I do like that the
rich fat kid was super nice. Like that stuff
was really good. I just was, again, I feel like
we weren't at the kid's eye level, which was
seemed just like disconnected from them and just
meandering until we got to the end. You know,
I wasn't enjoying my time with the kids as much
as I would have liked. I think that's it. I actually
like that. That's fine. And that's fine, Nikki.
I still like you. You got it. That's okay. it's
gonna bite me in the ass on contrary like i actually
like that that that those things like little
things that kids were doing like how they were
talking how they were like the small things and
then like how teachers are behaving to them i
think maybe like i was just feeling too nostalgic
about my school like how how the small things
like you know like fighting and then becoming
like you know like then helping each other and
then like you know just uh yeah like this this
this gang ganging up yeah against teacher against
one weird teacher like no one is being a rattled
tattletale uh yeah that kind of felt nice i mean
very empowering in a in a childish way i think
i kind of felt a little kid was there a staircase
moment i mean the ending huh the ending would
qualify as one when you see his situation the
teacher marie antoinette style I think, yeah,
like knowing that he's like seeing the reality
of his life. For me, honestly, it was when the
priest didn't molest the kid in the car. I was
like, wow, like that was the biggest surprise
for me. Honestly, that was the big twist. It's
not getting worse from here. Yeah. Dance number
you said? There was songs. There were no dances.
In the songs. There was no musical numbers. Yeah,
it was an hour and a half. For fuck's sake, can't
even Stanley in... Because he's going, you know,
on stage for this festival. Can't he dance to
a song? We did see him dance briefly. But not
a Bollywood song. But there was no song playing,
right? Like dancing weird. Montage. Yeah, montage.
But that's him dancing. I think they probably
added that intentionally to give it some... Indian
movie spice, a bit of dancing at least. Not enough.
I think they had to do that because of budget
issue. I kind of feel that they couldn't pull
off like a proper, shooting a proper concert.
His son can't dance. He's like, I'm out of money.
We have to finish this film. These kids are like
active for more than one year and I'll have to
wrap this film up. Just do like one day, just
book the theater and just do some dances and
put it on a montage and we'll call it a day.
But this movie really did not need a dance number.
it would have just fit in so oddly it would have
felt like you're trying to intentionally squeeze
it in just for the sake of having it that's the
whole point family feud factor what family kind
of right that's a good point because he has no
family there's no feud uncle slapping uncle yeah
yeah yeah there's no feud the dead parents were
probably fighting when they got in the motorcycle
crash but also you see the whole feud between
like the students and the teacher it's not a
family but since the whole movie takes place
in that school setting that kind of qualifies
it's a family it's a conflict it's a family in
a what's the film called the racing film Fast
and Furious yeah it's a family in a Fast and
Furious way I feel like we could have explored
Verma's family. Also... His parents were Paul
Walker. Actually, that's a really good point.
The whole movie, we were thinking about why Stanley
does not bring lunch, right? Nobody ever sits
and thinks, why does Verma not have lunch? And
the movie never unpacks that. I thought about
that the whole time. I did. I would have loved...
Well, because he's a monster. What if he comes
from a very sad background and there's like a
really deep reason? And what if he was deprived
of food when he was a child and that's why now
the thought of it makes him so... hungry and
like impulsive and tempted towards food what
if he has a tragic backstory you're right he's
a hero they need to make a sequel stanley kadaba
2 Verma Kadaba. The Verma origin story. The spiritual
prequel. It's Verma as the kid not having food.
And his friends were like bully and then they
didn't give him food. That's what happens. He
became the bully because he was bullied his whole
life and now like he doesn't want to bring food
because he's afraid like he'll get bullied because
he like makes bad food or something and he doesn't
have a wife at home. I have a theory, yeah. My
theory is like I think he doesn't have a wife
at home like it's a very like a bad society so
it's like all the women are bringing food because
they are cooking the food before coming to the
work and they also cook for their husbands so
i think him being a carouse him being like a
grumpy he's grumpy also because he doesn't have
a wife i guess and it's like uh both goes hand
in hand so he doesn't have a wife so and then
he doesn't have food it's like he doesn't have
sex he can't pull his pants up he can't wipe
his own ass without a woman what are you gonna
do man Eat kids' food. I'm just going to a very
bad metaphor. I'll not go there anymore. We should
bring arranged marriages back so these guys don't
steal the kids' food. Spice level, regional heat
check. I don't know who's been to Catholic school.
You, no? No, Lutheran. Vastly different. Well,
my school was Catholic. Oh, shit. Okay, how was
it? There was a father. He was very nice. That's
cool. Did anyone ever get in a car with him?
No. But then there was a... I didn't know how
to go from there. That was a good answer. That
was a good answer. There was a scandal where...
I don't know. This has nothing to do with it.
But there was a scandal where one of the fathers
used the tuition money to buy a sports car. Oh
gosh, that sounds like the kind of scandal you'd
have in Thailand. Yeah, that sports car. That's
total. That makes sense. But I had nothing to
do with it. Well, how are you going to get the
kids to hop in your car if it doesn't look cool?
They only want to be in a cool race car. I think
one of the things that brings up this school
is like this... Back then, when we were in school,
there were kids from different economic backgrounds,
which is almost... not present anymore because
of the privatization. And like, you know, the
schools are like a party house or like some kind
of that, like, you know, you go to like, you
go to like super expensive, like exclusionary
school if you're rich. And if you're poor, you
just go to the public schools. But back in the
days, like there'd be like public schools and
there would be like private schools from very
much prevalent with this kind of missionary schools.
So in both of them, like most of the times, like
you have like students, from different backgrounds.
This is a major number of schools. I mean, they
still have, like, rich people's schools only
then. But I remember that, like, no, we had,
like, people from different, like, some very
rich, some very not that rich, some, like, powerful.
You can tell that by the cleanliness of their
shirts or pants or, like, what kind of school
bag they carry or, like, what kind of pencil
box they have and then, like, all these things.
And then, yeah, it's okay. Moral of the melodrama?
Don't eat kids' food. I mean, it depends, right?
I mean, I don't know. What is the moral? Sharing
is caring. Don't be selfish and greedy. And despite
any hardships and circumstances you have in life,
your perspective is what matters most. You can
still be happy. Your circumstances don't define
you. And some people, like his uncle, are just
assholes. If Stanley wasn't as cool... would
like, that would suck for his life. People didn't
like him, you know, if he wasn't really good
or his teachers really didn't like, or his teachers
like loved his stories and stuff. Like he's kind
of lucky. Yeah. You know, he's resilient, right?
Like you kind of see him. He's really nice to
his friends as well. That's why people are nice
to him back. He's funny. He tells creative stories.
He's charming in his own way. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
he, he's trying to make the best of the situation
for sure. I give it four tiffin boxes out of
five. The stack is supposed to be five tiffin
boxes. Adam takes everyone tiffin box. Well,
okay. On that note, thank you guys for tuning
in. Please don't forget to like and subscribe.
And share. Follow us on Instagram at Fear of
Stairs. And if you write a review, we will read
it on here maybe if it's five stars. Go eat some
good food. Yeah. Okay, bye. Goodbye.