| Thanks Maa | |
| Director: | Irfan Kamal |
| Producer: | Quantum Films |
| Starring: | Master Shams Patel Master Salman Master Fayaaz Baby Almas Ravi Mahashabde Master Jaffer Baby Sakshi Barry John |
| Music: | Ranjit Barot |
| Cinematography: | Ajayan Vincent |
| Editing: | Amit Saxena |
| Distributor: | SPE Films India |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Hindi |
Thanks Maa is an Indian Hindi language drama film, directed by Irfan Kamal,[1] distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment India. The film focuses on child abandonment in India. It has been officially selected to be screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival,[2] the Pusan International Film Festival,[3] the Montreal World Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival,[4] the International Film Festival of India and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.[5] The debut child actor Master Shams Patel has also won Best Child Artist[6] for the film, at the 56th National Film Awards.
A 12-year-old street kid named Municipality, while on the run from the reformatory, finds and saves a two-day-old abandoned child from being prey to a ferocious street dog. Failing to find any takers among the people he deemed responsible and respectable, Municipality takes up the onus of finding the child's mother himself. Here onwards ensues his struggle in the urban jungle of Mumbai with just four of his friends from the streets: Soda (15), Sursuri (10), Cutting (8), and Dhed-shaana (6). Municipality's rock-steady determination ultimately helps him emerge a winner against all odds as he reaches the child's mother. In the bargain, he loses his 'God like' and flawless image of a mother he used to anticipate in his dreams. A mother, who he hoped, would come searching for him someday at the Municipality Hospital, where he was abandoned 12 years ago. The film ends by showcasing some of the real-life issues of abandoned children and the misery they face in their day-to-day lives.