Review : Merit Animal focuses on lacunae in our educational system!

In the last couple of decades or so there has been an undue pressure on students, especially in #urbancities, to score high marks. Almost every parent want their ward to come in the merit list and in the process it has become a rat or animal race. Though education has utmost importance in the modern world, the rural population is not in this rat race. The burden of expectations is killing student’s psyche and if nothing is done in this regard there’ll be a chaotic situation in the educational arena. Writer, director Junaid Imam has come up with a movie #MeritAnimal wherein he has very categorically addressed this issue. He is been supported by the producers #PradeepDeshmukh and #ReenaJadhav and the movie Merit Animal is released on #HungamaPlay.

On the outskirts of city a bicycle racing competition is being held and when the race is about to begin one of the participant Varun (Aditya Singhal), aged 16, goes missing. He meets with an accident and is rescued by a farmer Krishna (Mahesh Ghag) who brings him to his home because leaving him there could land him in the clutches of wild animals. Krishna and his wife Meera (Reena Jadhav) decide to let Varun stay with them till his parents are located. Their son Muniya (Nangesh Naik) becomes friends with Varun and Varun starts liking their simple lifestyle. Because earlier due to his parent’s pressure he used to take each competition extremely seriously which had led him being lonely without any friends. Varun, though he remembers everything, feigns memory loss because he wanted to get away from all sorts of competition. Will Varun’s parents find him? To know one needs to watch Merit Animal.

It’s applauding that the lacunae in the current educational system and urban parenting is showcased with authenticity. Maybe the parents when they used to be students couldn’t do well academically and now want their children to excel. But it’s harsh on children because not everybody is a merit material. The parents should gauge their offspring’s abilities and guide them instead of egging them to excel in everything they do. The amount of mental stress these students carry is enormous and parent counselling is necessary. Merit Animal tries to show two faces of hypocritical thought process of parents. The screenplay is a bit slow but the director doesn’t loses the focus. He has pinpointed the issue at hand and offers subtle solutions too. The music is good and the cinematography too is not bad. The runtime of 107 minutes is perfect and all the actors have done a good job. Two child artists Aditya Singhal and Nangesh Naik have done an excellent job. Mahesh Ghag and Reena Jadhav impress with their natural acting.

Merit Animal mainly focuses on lacunae in our educational system and is a one time watch.

Rating :- ***