2011 · Film
Stanley Ka Dabba
Amole Gupte's school drama about a fourth-grader in Mumbai who never brings a lunchbox, and a greedy teacher who covets his classmates' food.
Reviewed by Movie Mandala, Sun, 18 Oct, 2026
Where to watch
IndiaAs of 18 October 2026, Stanley Ka Dabba is free to watch in India on YouTube.
- Checked Sun, 18 Oct, 2026Open ↗
The story
Stanley is a popular, imaginative fourth-grader at Holy Family School in Mumbai, and his English teacher, Ms. Rosy, loves his stories and essays. Unlike his classmates, he never brings a lunchbox, or dabba, to school. His friends happily share their food with him, but the Hindi teacher Verma, nicknamed Khadoos, is a glutton who has his own eye on the children's lunches. When Verma decides Stanley should not eat from anyone's dabba unless he brings his own, the boy has to find a way to keep coming to school.
Spoiler-free: only the set-up.
Who it suits
A short, low-key school film of about an hour and a half, made with real schoolchildren, that families can watch together. It touches on child labour and abuse at home, so younger children may have questions.
Curation to help you choose, not a review.
Background
Amole Gupte, who wrote Taare Zameen Par, wrote, directed and produced Stanley Ka Dabba and also plays the Hindi teacher Verma. His son Partho Gupte plays Stanley. Gupte borrowed money from friends and shot the film on a Canon EOS 7D in a Mumbai school with a five-member crew, filming in four-hour workshops every Saturday for a year and a half. About 170 child actors appear in it. After seeing the finished film, Karan Johar helped Gupte sign a distribution deal with Fox Star Studios.
The film opened in Indian cinemas on 13 May 2011. Wikipedia reports a gross of about ₹7.63 crore against a budget of ₹4.5 crore. Rediff's Raja Sen gave it 5 out of 5, and NDTV's Anupama Chopra gave it 3.5. Partho Gupte shared the National Film Award for Best Child Artist at the 59th National Film Awards.
The facts
- Language
- Hindi
- Hindi
- Hindi original
- Genre
- Children's drama, School comedy-drama
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Director
- Amole Gupte
- Cast
- Partho Gupte, Divya Dutta, Amole Gupte, Divya Jagdale, Raj Zutshi
Questions people ask
- Where can I watch Stanley Ka Dabba in India?
- As of 18 October 2026, Stanley Ka Dabba is free to watch in India on YouTube.
- Is Stanley Ka Dabba in Hindi?
- Yes. Stanley Ka Dabba is a Hindi-language film.
- How long is Stanley Ka Dabba?
- Stanley Ka Dabba runs for 1 hour 36 minutes (96 minutes).