Mangesh Hadawale

When a rowdy Shiva’s world collides with that of a demure Aastha’s, whose family has just moved into the chawl he resides in, sparks fly between them. But given their completely different backgrounds, is there any scope for their romance to bloom and survive?

A typical middle-class 70-year-old widower, Atmaram Dubey, who has been celibate for decades, realises he will probably never have sex. This awakening catapults him into an outrageous journey of self-discovery defying societal norms.

It is a story is based over the emotions of a postman at a remote rural village and a school-going boy called Rangya. During earlier times there were hardly a few educated individuals in any village such as a teacher, Patwari and a postman. They were therefore worthy of honour and respect in the village. It is with this thread of the bonding between villagers and the postman that makes up the story of Tapaal.

An impressionable boy is struck hard by Swami Vivekananda's quote, "Wahi jeete hain, jo doosro ke liye jeete hain" (translation: "Only those who live for others, actually live"). On the quest for purpose of life, he tries to pursue what he can do for others in his small world.