Partho Gupte dedicates his National Award to dad

Partho is back from school and in between getting ready for his yoga class, he shares his happiness over receiving the coveted National Award for his spontaneous performance in Stanley Ka Dabba.
He fondly remembers how they shot the film for four hours every Saturday with two breaks for one and half years with a simple DSLR Cannon camera. He says, “The film is without any frills.We all behaved naturally, just like we are in normal life. There was no jhanjhat of lamba-chauda dialogues or rona-dhona.”
Partho wants to dedicate this award to his father Amol Gupte because “this award is actually praising his efforts in the way he extracted performances from each one of us.” Stanley might speak broken English when he recites poems for his teacher Rosie in the film, but when you chat with him, you realise that the 10 year old Partho has been brought up in a household that discusses meaningful cinema everyday. As the son of a filmmaker dad and a film editor mom, Partho supports his father’s idea of making ‘credible’ films for children. He says, “My father treated every child actor with respect and never blamed them for any goof ups during the shots. That does not mean that he spoilt them, but he really appreciated the way child actors performed. I feel that children’s films need to portray a child’s emotions. A child should not act like an adult in a film. That’s why I really enjoy Majid Majidi’s Color of Paradise and Children of Heaven. That is quality children cinema.”
Partho has received many offers to act but he has declined them all. His father filmmaker Amol Gupte also denies taking him in his next film because that will amount to child labour. He says, “Dad might plan some role for me but it would be again only working on holidays or weekends.” He also relives a funny incident. “My father and I went for the shoot to the school on Saturday and nobody had turned up. We were worried, why no one had turned up. And then suddenly everyone came out with balloons and cakes and candles for my father to wish him happy birthday. I think it is about these small pleasures that make my family happy. But the national award happiness is top on the list now. It feels good that after being around my father in his office from four years of age has helped me give a good performance.”
Partho’s father calls him for his yoga class and before he gets ready for it, he leaves us with, “The National Award like my father says, only reaffirms faith in good cinema. My father tells me that a film clicks only when it is able to attract audiences. And no amount of marketing or frills will work for a film if the actual product is bad. So I am happy that a self-sustaining film like this has won.”