Varnapatala
Kannada (Theatres)
Cast: Jyothi Rai, Suhasini Maniratnam, Anoop Sagar, Dhanika Hegde,
Director: Chethan Mundai
4/5
Award-winning filmmaker Chethan Mundai’s ‘Varnapatala’ tries to educate society about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among children.
Life incidents experienced by producers Dr Saraswathi, a consultant community paediatrician, UK and Kavitha Santosh, an entrepreneur attending to special needs children, have been used to construct the plot.
‘Varnapatala’ deals with struggles of a mother to ensure support for the growth of her neurodivergent daughter. It depicts challenges of raising such a child through the lenses of character Nithya, who struggles for a decade, only to make her daughter express the word ‘Amma’ through music.
The flick explores the relationship of a single parent and her daughter in a poignant manner . Incidents referred to take us into the world of children with ASD who struggle to fit into the system. ‘Varnapatala’ makes an overwhelmingly plausible case that neurodivergent children can communicate through music as well.
The screenplay is both nuanced and riveting. Mundadi conveys how exhausting, traumatic, and scary it is for parents to combat myths concerning the disorder. It partially appears to be a children’s film, and partially an educational film on ASD.
Jyothi Rai delivers a stirring performance. Suhasini Maniratnam as a doctor gets less screen presence but does justice to her role. Eight-year-old Dhanika Hegde as a child with ASD, haunts us with her brilliant. She evokes feelings through her expressions as a nonverbal child.