The Kindest Ritwick Gatak Film Kanchon is a village boy who lives with his mother, father and simple-minded servant in an old family home. He doesn't know arithmetic well, but he's got great geography. He is a fantasist, a lover of adventure books, a mischievous and a real daredevil, dreaming of traveling and distant countries. But his father is too despotic, adhering to archaic rules of upbringing. He believes that if children are not beaten regularly, they will grow up too spoiled and in the end they will not make decent people. But Kanchon is too willful, stubborn and daring to the point of recklessness. And when his father decides to teach him a lesson for another trick, he runs away from home to Calcutta.
Probably the brightest and kindest of all the films of Ritwick Gatak, moments even to the degree of affection and feeling sentimental tears in his eyes. The most unusual film director. Perhaps because it was filmed in his youth, when Ritwick had not yet lost the joy of life and faith in a bright future. Mental warmth and good fun are filled with childhood dreams and dreams of Kanchon. And every time he starts dreaming, he's surrounded by lots of bubbles. But even in this work of the director, as if by the way, all the main themes of the master’s work pop up. Poverty and poverty. The growing communist movement. Partition of Bengal, attempts to survive and adapt to the new conditions of immigrants from the eastern part of the country, which was part of Pakistan. The theme of the river as an image of the road, the path of life, the eternal flow of life. The river is always in motion, always the same and at the same time constantly renewed.
"Runaway" is shot as a road movie. Little Canchon wanders through the huge crowded Calcutta. He meets different people: adults and small, good and bad. Honestly earning on their piece of bread and engaged in theft, begging, banditry, people are quite wealthy financially and with difficulty extracting pennies, allowing at least not to die of hunger. The huge metropolis, initially presented to the boy as a world of wonders and great opportunities, in which he was going to earn a lot of money to buy gifts for his good mother. But the more Canchon studied the lives of the people of Calcutta, the more he saw all sorts of problems, misfortunes, deprivations, diseases, excruciating grief, deception, crimes and violence. If it were not for the help of random good people, the boy would never have managed to survive, despite all his courage, ingenuity and cheerful character. He realized that it was too easy to get lost in the city, and if you parted with a dear person, you could never see him again. Things are changing too fast in the city. New acquaintances, new friendships, and even first love easily emerge and all too quickly become lost forever. Kanchon finally grasps the value of kindness and care, the happiness of living at home with family and friends, and the natural simplicity of village life in comparison with the artificial hustle and bustle of the city streets. You can wander around the world as much as you like, but it is better to find a place in your home, because only there you will always be waited for and loved for who you are.