British author Roald Dahl’s four short stories come to life in the hands of director Wes Anderson

Sheetal

Director Wes Anderson, known for his unique visual style, while adapting British author Roald Dahl’s stories — The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Poison, The Rat Catcher and The Swan — into short films has erased the difference between readers and viewers! Anderson, who also wrote the screenplays, sure deserves a round of applause.

Colonial India

Streaming on Netflix, the first of the four short films, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, is the most visually appealing. With a background of colonial India, Henry Sugar’s story is about the titular character’s successful attempt at learning the skills of a man, Imdad Khan, who could see with his eyes closed! It is a treat for meta-theatre fans, but more so for inquisitive minds. In the 40 minutes of runtime, the narrator changes too many times, but not for a minute is the audience distracted. Dr Strange aka Benedict Cumberbatch casts a spell with his captivating performance; it’s sometimes impossible to take the eyes off his face and expressions! As for Dev Patel, he once again delivers an Indian character in a non-stereotypical way.

A Peep into the plot

• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: A rich man learns about a guru, who can see with his eyes closed and then sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling. He later gets caught in an existential crisis.
• The Swan: Based on true story, told by an adult (Rupert Friend), about his childhood when he was pursued by two idiotic bullies, this one sees Asa Jennings play the brilliant boy.
• The Rat Catcher: This is a story about two neighbouring shop owners (Richard Ayoade and Rupert Friend), and their interaction with a professional rodent exterminator ‘catcher’ (Ralph Fiennes).
• Poison: Set in colonial India, a man (Benedict Cumberbatch) is discovered ‘frozen’ in bed by his servant (Dev Patel), while a poisonous snake is lying on his stomach. He is treated by a doctor (Ben Kingsley).

Interestingly, Dahl wrote the character of Imdad Khan after getting inspired by an enigmatic Kashmiri mystic, magician and firewalker named Khudah Bukhsh (Kuda Bux). Poison is another story with the same cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley, and also traces a story from colonial India.

It’s not the first time that Anderson and Dahl have collaborated, their first film together was a stop-motion animated film titled Fantastic Mr Fox (2009), which is based on a 1970 children’s novel by the same name. As for The Rat Catcher and The Swan, Rupert Friend, Ralph Fiennes, Richard Ayoade and Asa Jennings can be seen in the lead roles. Apart from fantastic individual performances of the cast members, the creative team, right from the art director to costume designers, also deserve an applause.

Anderson sure has well picturised how things must have transpired in Dahl’s literary world!

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