It took almost 20 years, but Mira Nair made the incredible journey from the slums of Bombay to the slums of Katwe. The last time she was this good was in The Namesake. This movie is as much a romantic homage to the melodramas of the past as it is a radical, path-breaking piece of modern filmmaking. It is one of the best films of the year. She was born into extreme poverty in the Ugandan town of Katwe, selling corn at traffic signals and wondering if life were any better as a boy.
Just like him, she is illiterate, and just like him she is feisty and intelligent. She survives in a cruel world, a world in which hope comes and goes like the rain that washes away the homes in her slum. But unlike Chaipau, Phiona is gifted. Young Madina Nalwanga is a star in the making. Having seen Katwe, the one film that kept coming to mind was Born into Brothels. Have you seen it? But for those of you who have, you know that you can never, till the time your memory fades away, forget young Avijit.
Avijit was born into a brothel, but during the course of the film, he discovered that he was a gifted photographer. Photography was his lifeline. It helped him evade a grim future that is all but inevitable when you are born into poverty.
And poverty is same all over the world - from the streets of Bombay to the alleys of Sonagachi to the slums of Katwe.
Yes, this is a radical film. It is set in Africa, it features an all-black cast - which is still, in , a rare sight in mainstream American cinema. There is no white saviour to help these kids, no white missionary to build churches for them. What they have instead is their coach, Robert Katende, played with Oscar-worthy ferocity by David Oyelowo.
