It seems this is a great time to belong to small-town India. A slew of such films are expected to hit the theatres in the coming weeks. And the one beating the rest of the small town dramas to the turnstile is director Shree Narayan Singh’s Batti Gul Meter Chalu, the story of electrical power theft in North India is inspired by real -life incident. This will be followed the next week by Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha and Sharad Kataria’s Sui Dhaaga. All these are films set in small towns and explore the aspirations disappointment and ultimate triumph of the ordinary working-class hero of the small town hero.
Aanand L. Rai, who produced last week’s well received moffusil romcom Manmarziyaanand some really big small town dramas recently like Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Newton, thinks of the trend of moving to the small towns as a reclamation of our very rich literary and cultural heritage Says Rai, “There are so many stories to be told in these small towns. I think the time for the these stories has come now.”