Ram Singh Charlie (2020, Movie Review)

The narrative start off tracing the backstory of Ram Singh who relished his job as Charlie the clown at Jango Circus. It is a story of a person who loses his job, and his struggle for survival. Ram Singh (Kumud Mishra) is an artist doing the performance as Charlie Chapli a circus, which is his bread and butter; and as such he is mostly referred to as Charlie by all people known to him. His wife Kajri (Divya Dutta) and son chintu are also an artist in the same circus.

One fine day, all of a sudden, The ageing owner Masterji (Salima Raza) makes way for her son Nabeel (Akarsh Khurana), who has no interest in carrying on with the circus declare that due to the losses they are making by running this circus, they will no longer be able to run this and eventually closing down with this circus. But as they are doing this all of a sudden, they offered the performers an advance payment of 3 months. Charlie is reluctant to take this payment as he still has some hope that the decision might have a chance to get reversed, but masterji convinced him and gave him the payment and says “I know Charlie you will start your own circus” and allows him to take the costume of Charlie.

Now the real circus or you can say the real struggle of Ram Singh and other members of the circus began for survival. Many members took up whatever job they could, but Ram Singh is still looking for the role of a joker to imitate Charlie. He went from one place to another in different circuses but still got no role to play as the performers are full in their circus. Eventually, due to lack of money and due to struggle, he convinces his pregnant wife Kajri to go to their home town while he finds a job and settles. He tries to do several jobs, and in one such job, he meets Shahjahan (Farrukh Seyer) who helps him with a place to live and do some other stuff as well. Eventually, Ram Singh starts pulling a rikshaw, and the artist in him starts taking the back seat due to the situation. Kajri when returns, finds a totally changed Ram Singh and struggles to cope with it initially. What happens next? Can Ram Singh start his circus? Can he imitate Charlie again In his life? Does he meet his old circus mates at any point of time? You will get all the answers in the movie.

 The film is said to be inspired by G Aravindan’s 1978 Malayalam classic Thampu. The clown as a tragi-comic icon has been a favourite device of filmmakers to define the quirks of life. From the Raj Kapoor classic Mera Naam Joker in Bollywood to Appu Raja starring Kamal Haasan among other films, numerous instances abound. Nitin Kakkar’s cinematic ambition here is clearly not too complex. He was out entertaining with a human interest fiction piece that imparts a quiet comment or two about life. The film works well as a tribute to the dying art of circus, and to the marginalised artiste whose dream is often trounced upon by the brutal demands of survival.

The movie is set as a narrative of Chintu (Charlie's son), and as such a flashback kind of movie; but there is no jumping between the present and past, that does not break the link which is a plus for this movie. You can sense that the director knew what he wants to show and does not become melodramatic at any point in time, nor it tries to create sympathy for the poor and their struggle for daily living. It is a plane struggle story which you can connect to considering that a man can do whatever he can for the survival and for his family, which is a big plus for such kind of movies. You need not always be over melodramatic as normally most of the people don’t like that. Though this is a short movie, you get a feeling of some stretch at times and another 5 - 10 minutes of editing could have been possible. This is not a movie you can watch for time pass. Acting-wise, Kumud Mishra and Divya Dutta both have done a fantastic job and rest all have chipped in properly without doing anything over. Kolkata is a delight to watch. Background score and songs are also apt, as for mentioned nothing goes over in this movie and that is a big plus for this movie. Overall this is a movie that does justice to its content, knowing how much to do and where to stop.