The beauty is that debutant director Nagraj Manjule doesn’t give us a shrill polemic on the soul-crushing ugliness that exists in modern India. Instead he creates a poignant portrait of a keenly intelligent boy whose dreams defy his circumstances. Manjule gives us lovely little details – so Jabya, hoping to go a shade lighter, enthusiastically powders his face before school. And his bright, charming face fills with longing when he sees a pair of jeans, which are prohibitively expensive but essential in his Shalu plans.

Pain, anguish, aspiration, desire and hope form the soul of Fandry, and it will take me a few re-watches to take in the film completely. A film like Fandry comes along rarely. And when it does, it must be watched and celebrated. GO WATCH NOW.

Don’t mistake Fandry for a commercial film. Yes it has its moments of crowd pleasing appeal when a family desperately chases pigs around the village. But you know the comedy is going to give way to a much darker end. This is art cinema at its best. There’s a visceral punch right at the end. And long after you leave the movie theatre, it compels you to think of the irony. And the more you think, the more you feel troubled at the grim conclusion of a fantasy tale. This is easily one of the best films of 2014.

Manjule’s writing is so watertight that every occurrence in the screenplay feels natural. Ultimately,Fandry’s greatest victory is that it flows with the same languid pace one would expect of village life, despite its hardships, and, by putting the viewer in Jabya’s shoes, Manjule let you live in his world for a while.