MACHACHARI NOVEMBER 6

MACHACHARI NOVEMBER 6
In today’s programme, children will learn to think critically when in hard situations and come up with a way to come out of it. The producer brings that out very well in the dramatic turn of events which dominate today’s program.
The usual program identity announces another episode of Machachari. A wide shot at a high angle is the establishment shot of the first scene which is in the slum. Govi and Baha talk about the bicycle ride Almasi promised them.
A wide shot that end in a smooth zoom in of Almasi and Joy’s family house introduces the next scene. In the house we see over the shoulder shots of Alamasi and Sophia talking. Sophia reminds Almasi that he should be ready for the trip they are taking with their dad.
A shot taken from the ground level suggests that the children are climbing a hill. We see parts of their bodies being revealed slowly from their heads to their feet.
Back to the previous scene, Sophia, seated on the sofa, is combing Joy’s hair. Joy is seated on the floor holding a mirror to admire how Sophia is making her hair. The cameraman focuses on the mirror such that we can see the image of Sophia in the mirror Joy is holding. That is so dramatic and I really admire that. On the other side of the sitting room, Almasi hears a knock and a tracking shot follows him as he goes to get it. He lets in Baha and Govi. The camera is at the telephoto angle as Govi tells Almasi that they have come to pick the bike he had promise them. Next we see Joy in the dressing room, from the image we see in the mirror, we gather that she is applying lipstick. The shot that takes the image of her rather than the real she, brings out the story very well since we are shown she is at the mirror.
In the next scene, the children go to where the bike is. A close-up of Almasi’s hand on the bike’s tire makes us realize that it has a puncture. A slow pan left reveals both Govi and Baha so beaten by that. A couple of shots show us the children convincing Almasi to take the bicycle for repair.
Mean while, Sophia gets in the room and finds Joy all messed up with the lipstick and convinces her to wipe it off as it looks so bad on her.
Back to the boys, they go to a car wash and finds that the person who does bicycle repair is busy fetching water. I can’t help but notice their frustrated faces as we see close-up shots of each of them. They beg the man to repair their bike as they draw water for him. A wide shot that fades in a dolly-in shows us the boys each with a bucket of water. We see feet approaching where the children are seated waiting, a tilt up reveals the man who is supposed to be repairing their bike. He announces that the children have to help wash a carpet as he repairs their bike. The next shot at ground level shows us each boy with a brush kneeling and scrubbing the carpet very hard. A shot of Almasi looking up to a spot makes us wonder what he is looking at. We get the answer as the camera shifts to an approaching car. Back to Almasi, we see a breast shot of him terrified as he announces to the other children that his that was his dad’s car.
The scene gets more dramatic as we see the children running and hiding beside a car. The camera focuses on the side mirror of that car and we see the images of the children. I think that that creativity is awesome, it enhances the mood in the scene at the moment; the children are hiding and there is a limited view of them. As one of the children is trying to lift his head and try to see where Almasi’s dad is, he sees the owner, surprisingly Almasi’s math’s teacher, heading toward the car. We see the children hiding further, they lie on the floor. A camera on the opposite side of the car and at ground level reveals this.
As the teacher nears the car, suspense mounts. We see Almasi’s father getting out of the car and he notices the teacher and calls him. They start talking. I think they are using two camera as each appear facing each other as they talk and clearly they are not at over the shoulder shot. Back to the boys they take that opportunity to plan a way to escape. They stand on and hold the carpet on their left and start moving shielded by the carpet. The dad looks and a shot at low angle reveals the children moving. The shot comes out as if the carpet was moving on it’s on. But since it is at low angle, it seems that it also has feet! (The feet are the children’s feet). Before the father could look closer, he is interrupted by the car wash attendant announcing that the car is ready. Almasi and the boys reach the main road and he hurriedly mounts on the bike and takes off so fast. Through a tracking shot, we see him cycling so fast.
Almasi gets home, the lighting makes the tiles to shine and reflect, there is a close up of his feet, we gather that his slippers are muddy and slippery, a tilt up that is cut to a dolly out of Sophia approaching shows us Almasi scared that he is dirty and may not be able to go for the trip. We hear the hooting of a car and that announces that the father has arrived. A full shot of him opening the door is cut to a wide shot of Almasi running and lying on the sofa. We see a close up of his face. The father sits on the same chair on the edge. Almasi tells him that he is not feeling well. The episode is over.
It think that the story was left hanging, I don’t know whether it is the producer’s style but I think being a children’s program, a more smooth finish is better. Children may not be able to think out what happened next. Other than that, the program was well produced. It was so dramatic and the camera man was able to get beautiful shots to tell the producer’s story.