I Am Kalam

When drought finishes off the village, Chhotu's mother leaves him with his uncle Bhati, who runs a tea stall on the edge of the city. The boy is clever, curious and stubborn. Seeing President Abdul Kalam on television and learning that he too came from a poor family, he gives himself the name Kalam and decides to get an education. In a nearby palace turned into a hotel he makes friends with a prince his own age. Nila Madhab Panda's film asks who education is open to, through one child's stubbornness. It does not lecture and it does not beg for pity; Chhotu is shown as somebody making his own calculations rather than as a victim. Harsh Mayar's performance won a national award in India. Gulshan Grover plays the uncle who both shelters the boy and limits him. The film's title is not a name but a decision.