Hawaa Hawaai

Director: Amole Gupte

Cast: Saqib Saleem, Partho Gupte, Makarand Deshpande 

Sometimes a conventional review is just not enough. An emotional experience like Hawaa Hawaai needs more than just a critique. You need to look past a few flaws to discover a genuine victor. How else would an underdog succeed? Here are 10 truths that make Hawaa Hawaai a must-watch.

1. There are children who aren’t living their childhood.

It is perhaps the most inconvenient truth told in Hawaa Hawaai. It is perhaps the gravest of all misfortunes. Every child deserves to live their childhood. And yet millions in our own country and its big cities are forced to let go of their right to frolic, to enjoy and to study because they’re poor. Because two earning hands are simply not enough. So you have kids, who should ideally be in school or out playing, toil it out like adults so that they can simply earn a livelihood for their families. There’s a montage in Hawaa Hawaai, played out as the song Sapno ko ginte plays in the background. This montage shows you little kids working on the streets like grown up men, in the process forgetting their own little dreams and aspirations. It breaks your heart.

2. Friends get you through the thick and thin of life.

No matter what strata of society you belong to, your greatest resource and treasure in life are your friends. Regardless of the nature of your problem and what time of day it is, you can always count on a friend or friends to rescue you. That’s exactly what happens with Partho Gupte’s character Arjun in Hawaa Hawaai. His gang of street urchin buddies, Gochi, Abdul, Murugan and Bhura help him realise his dream against all odds. By the end Arjun’s dream is no longer just his alone, it becomes the dream of all five. The young actors Ashfaque Khan, Maaman Memon, Thirupathi Kushnapelli and Salman Khan do a marvellous job to support their lead man Partho. Together they’re no less than the proverbial paanch pandavas.

3. Your parents are the most caring and concerned people in your life.

Makarand Deshpande plays Partho’s character’s father in the film. He’s the emotional anchor of the young protagonist. It is through his misfortune and stoicism that you come appreciate a father’s importance in a young boy’s life. Arjun’s mother is a trembling body of concern. Her hands shake at the thought of her son’s misfortune. She sweats just seeing her young son work for his living. Truth is our parents live in a constant state of fear and terror, worrying for our wellbeing. The least we can do to ease their turmoil is to give them the respect they deserve.

4. Sports are the definitive means of building character.

You can’t be a sport if you’ve never played the game. Sports are the most effective way of building character and personality development. They can teach you key characteristics like teamwork, sharing and self-belief. As young Arjun learns the tricks and trade of roller skating, we discover how a sport can help you discover so many new things about yourself.

5. No man can ever be worth his salt without a teacher.

There’s a reference to Eklavya from the Mahabharata and his willingness to learn. Even though the example may be clichéd, it does raise an important point. You can’t progress in life unless you learn. Saqib Saleem plays Arjun’s spirited skating instructor in Hawaa Hawaai. And it is through their exchanges and chemistry that you understand the value of a teacher. At one point in the film, Arjun touches the feet of his master, and then subsequently the teacher fills in the void left behind by the passing away of Arjun’s father.

6. Winning isn’t everything.

Nearly every sports movie tries to convey this message. That it’s such a pursued point just tells you how important it really is. Hawaa Hawaai shows us through Arjun’s journey that winning and losing are mere pit stops in the journey. Realising your goal and working towards it is the all-important truth.

7. When you help the needy you aren’t just changing their lives, you’re changing yours too.

This thought is perhaps the most mature part of Hawaa Hawaai’s narrative. Saqib’s character realises that he isn’t out saving destitute kids, but reforming his own life, clearing the skeletons from his own closet. It’s an unspoken truth. When we help others what we are really doing is mending our own demons. Saqib does a phenomenal job of conveying this reality with a masterful amount of subtlety.

8. It’s important to dream.

Would any of us ever be able to achieve anything without having a goal to strive towards? Hawaa Hawaai shows us the value of dreaming. Without the dream of being a skating champion, Arjun’s life would be one long, morose chapter of bad luck. Yet the implausible nature of his dream defies logic. It creates the underdog. It lets the director Amole Gupte tell a fantastic story.

9. The past teaches you more than what you can imagine.

Our personalities, our decisions and our choices are born from our experiences. You can always look ahead, but unless you don’t look back, you wouldn’t know what to do get where you’re going. Arjun draws inspiration from his father’s tragic back story. As the final race is unfolding you’re also taken the past trauma of Arjun and his father’s loss. Our past is like a reference manual. We can always use it to learn about our follies, avoid the mistakes we’ve already done and make sound decisions for the future.

10. There’s more to good cinema than just larger than life stories and swashbuckling heroes.

All said and done, Hawaa Hawaai is a feature film. It isn’t the tautest piece of artistic cinema ever made. In fact, at times, its emotion heavy scenes seem a little too scripted. But you can’t deny the fact that this film has a solid heart of gold. The performances by Saqib Saleem, Partho Gupte and the other young kids drive home an emotional hit. Director Amole Gupte’s story of a young boy getting ahead of life’s curve on rollerblades is a simple but effective story. There are no thundering heroes here. Only ordinary characters in a slice-of-life drama. But as the genius Albert Einstein once said, when the solution is simple, God is answering. It’s the kind of film that makes you want to believe.