Cast: Sunny Gill, Surekha Sikri, Putul Guha
Director: Amol Gupte
Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)
Doing this loud smacking of the fingers is the family matriarch, Bebe, the grandmother with her face on the pickle jar. Played by the redoubtable Surekha Sikri, this wonderfully warm grandmother is full of concern for her nasally-challenged grandson. Struck by the unfairness of it all, she wonders how a child can function without being able to smell a thing.
Poorly, it appears. Not knowing how good food tastes is the least of little Sunny Gill's worries, as he literally steps in it. It, in this case, being a big pile of poo that ends up on his shoe and that he obliviously drags around school and is, inevitably, mocked for. He is a quiet, sensitive boy, one who sits alone on the bus despite having a best friend who tries to get him to mimic sweet and sour smells.
All is snot as he expects, however. After one fortuitous and dramatic sneeze, Sunny finds his life turned around and can now smell for kilometres away. This newfound ability turns the kid into a bloodhound, where he smells what his friends had for dinner the night before, which neighbourhood aunty's perfume lingers on which neighbourhood uncle, and where the Bengali policewoman next door has hidden the sweets from her husband.
There are some fine touches - a geriatric watchman with coke-bottle glasses, a clubhouse constructed around a slide so as to ensure easy (and cool) entry, a cleverly written song romanticising surveillance - and Gupte peoples his film with natural actors. The kids are adorable, as always, but far from the striking performers like the ones we saw in the excellent Stanley Ka Dabba or the rousing Hawa Hawaii, Gupte's earlier excursions.
After setting up a mystery and a few suspects, Sniff loses its way in its attempt to become a detective story. The story about this bright child and his olfactory gift turns into a highly generic detective story, and while the film's cuteness never flags, the plot begins to feel too simple as it begins to lean increasingly on coincidence and, sadly, lesser and lesser on the unique superpower. Sniff is a brief film - less than ninety minutes long - that stays sweet to the end, but never quite recovers from this narrative drop. It's a nosedive.
Keep at it, Mr Gupte, our children need compassionate filmmakers like you. And like we say to someone who has just sneezed, God bless you.
Why Saina Director Amole Gupte Chose To Make Biopic Of Badminton Star Saina Nehwal Amole Gupte's Upcoming Film Has an 8-Year-Old Spy Amole Gupte to Direct Biopic on Saina Nehwal Virat Ordered Special Birthday Cake For Anushka. Courtesy Bengaluru Baker Bigg Boss OTT 3: Adnaan Shaikh Asked To Leave For Breaking A Major Rule Richa Chadha's Stunning Pics From Maternity Shoot With Ali Fazal Watch: Sun Unleashes Powerful Solar Flare, Australia And Japan Hit Mumbai University Invites Applications For MCA And MMS Courses Homeless Man, Carrying Knives, Shot Dead By Cops Outside Republican Event Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.