Merit Animal Review - An Eventful Comparison Between Urban Parents Oppression & Rural Freedom From A Child's Point of View

Junaid Imam's Merit Animal has a very interesting title for adults, even though the film is about a child. On an interesting note, while Merit Animal may have a child's character at the centre, it still gives a good message to adult parents. The balanced scenario is pleasant and plays a vital part here because it widens its reach to two different age groups. We all know how urban parents usually pressurise their children to be Rank #1 in every field, be it studies, grades, sports and what not. But did we see the same picture in rural areas? The answer is No. That's what Merit Animal shows you from a child's point of view.The film begins with a cycle racing scene on a hillside, and one of the participants, named Varun (Aditya Singhal), goes missing. In the next frame ,Varun finds himself in a remote village where there is no sign of any modern technology. Varun is spotted and taken home by a poor couple, Meera (Reena Jadhav) and Mohandas (Mahesh Ghag), in a village called Gunapur. Varun stays in the village for a few days and becomes friends with Mohandas and Meera's naughty son, Muniya (Nagesh Naik). Muniya takes Varun along and involves him in all his plays and mischief. Depressed Varun starts enjoying village life and recalls those events while comparing them with his earlier life. The narrative then shows his past life, where he is being pressured by his parents to become a "Merit" boy, instead of a happy, normal guy.Aditya Singhal's performance is not too good, but he's just a child artist. One can't expect him to be a pro-level actor so soon, but his presence feels good. The dialogues and sound are badly edited. That's one of the main reasons why he looked underwhelming. Nagesh Naik's carefree attitude and naughtiness will take children along with him. They are gonna enjoy every word he says and everything he does on screen. Mahesh Ghah is a prominent member of the Marathi television world and has a healthy amount of experience in his kitty. He uses that while representing a typical poor father from a remote village. Reena Jadhav's Nav-vaari saree and rural look fit perfectly for the character. Bahar Ul Islam and Bhagyarati Kadam could have done better as Varun's father and mother, respectively.Merit Animal has a good subject at its core, but it doesn't flower well on the outside. The screenplay is engaging, but the scenes are misplaced and misjudged. They could have added a little bit more comedy to make it entertaining even for the parents, but they missed. Technical aspects sound okay if one has to consider the budget. Afterall, it's not a lavish feature film, nor was it ever intended to be one. The overall presentation is a bit on the tidy side, and somewhat untidy too. Pradeep Deshmukh and Reena Jadhav have achieved satisfying results with their production values.What works in Merit Animal is the concept, and it's important in today's competitive era. Today, there is fierce competition in every field you go to, be it school, college, higher studies, jobs, government jobs or even start-ups. How can one stay number one while others are also trying to grab the same spot? Junaid Imam's low budget feature takes a dig at over-ambitious parents. On the negative hand, Merit Animal lacks finesse in filmmaking. The editing, background score, music and screenplay could have done a better justice to the mandatory subject like this, but somewhere they stay behind in the merits. Nevertheless, Merit Animal is an honest attempt to break silence on an important topic of parental oppression causing depression in children. Watch it to understand that.