Journals of a Wily School
Directed by Sudeshna Bose2009 52m PG
Filmed with unprecedented access to the activities of both pickpockets and police, "Journals of a Wily School" takes viewers inside the world of the petty thieves who ply their trade on the streets of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), and the detectives who try to control them. Azad, the eldest of five children, is 22 years old and lives with his family. A brilliant young man, his father encourages him to enter the family business-wholesale fish trading. Yet Azad has chosen a different path, and becomes a skilled pickpocket at an early age. Day after day he practices his profession across the length and breadth of the crowded streets, lightening the loads of unsuspecting passengers on sweltering city buses. And just like any other dedicated artist, Azad passionately hones his skills under the tutelage of a master, taking classes at the local school for pickpockets. The master of the wily school teaches students the pilfering arts, such as how to lift a coin from the bottom of a water bucket with nary a ripple on the surface. He also shows the skills of a surgeon as he precision-cuts a piece of cloth laid on a melon with a razor blade and without ever piercing the skin of the fruit. Azad is successful and skilled, yet even he comes under scrutiny from the watchful eyes of Police Detective Bidhan Saha. Once caught, Azad is offered a deal: go to jail or help the police catch other pickpockets. Given a second chance and the hope for respectability, what choice will Azad make? Collaboration or incarceration proves a difficult choice for Azad, and the lure of the city streets is powerful.
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