Dhag: The fire all around!

Here is yet another important film in Marathi that deals with a unique subject. The film won several national awards last year, including the best actress award for Usha Jadhav. The film deals with a caste related practice. Here is a family whose family trade is cremating the dead in the village. Ironically, it is in the death of someone that the family must find its living.

 

Director: Shivaji Lotan Patil

Film Clip

The problem becomes acute when in a sudden turn of events, the man in the family dies of snake bite and the young son has problems continuing with this practice. Though the son wants to study and become someone in life as per his father’s wish, he realises how the eventuality has brought in several other problems to the family, including the lustful advances of men towards his mother. It is in this context that the son must make a decision of his life.

The young Hansraj Jagtap as Krishna adds life to a film which in parts turns melodramatic. The suffering that a caste related trade brings to a poor family can be seen and felt through the tender yet mature expressions of this young boy. The blaze (dhag) is not just that which emanates from the pyre, it is there even in his eyes. The film, of course, does not end pessimistically, which is its strength. There is hope even when the fire blazes all around you.

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

How Old Are You: Woman in the centre!

Women-centred films are not new in Malayalam. In fact, the new generation Malayalam films have strong women characters and there are several films in this genre that are centred on women. How old are you is yet another significant and praise-worthy addition to them.

Director: Rosshan Andrrews

Film Clip

It is a film about women living their dreams. The message is straight forward: women are not to be confined only to the household, cooking and taking care of children. They can also strive to achieve their dreams, only if they are determined. And, no-one but themselves can be their guiding hand in this pursuit.

Nirupama is just like any other housewife, taking care of the household having internalised that her life is only that. However, things change dramatically for her, when she comes to know that she is derided for her naivety and less than confident attitude to life. Timely comes the help from her classmate, through whose words of support she defies logic to turn out to be a successful entrepreneur, gaining respect from her husband and her little daughter as well.

The film raises several pertinent issues: Why should a woman always sacrifice her dreams for the sake of her family? Why not help her also to go beyond the narrow confines of family and kitchen? We can also have as many women entrepreneurs as men, if not more, provided men do not feel insecure and threatened by them. And finally, when a woman blooms and flourishes in and through her dreams, not just an household but a society she engages with also blossoms, for the nurturing qualities of a woman will always come alive naturally in every decision she takes, and every change she brings in. At least that is the message of the film. Full marks to the director Rosshan Andrrews and the lead character Manju Warrier.

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

Ida: Search for identity!

Ida is a Polish film which won Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Category at the recently held Academy Awards. And it deserves the accolades for its sensitivity in dealing with the subject. The film is the story of a young nun Anna (played by Agata Trzebuchowska) who was orphaned during the World War II. She is now determined to meet her aunt and find out about her parents, before she could take her religious vows.

 Film Clip

Director: Paweł Pawlikowski

The journey, though, takes her to hitherto uninhabited terrains and situations, which she finds both revelatory as well as momentary. Even as she discovers how her parents were killed, she is not disturbed beyond a point about the events that took place in the past and shows remarkable calm and composure. Even when she comes to know that she was born a Jew, she is not overtly amazed and thus does not indulge in exaggerated emotions.

And that perhaps is the strength of the film. Throughout, one gets to witness characters contrasting in nature, yet not resorting to undue pomposity. They go about their role play nonchalantly, giving the film its richness and artistic value.

Agatha, the young nun, is just the right character to play the role of a courageous and indifferent girl. Her performance has elevated the character, and of course the film, a notch or two higher in quality. Full marks to director Paweł Pawlikowski for his effective handling of script and screenplay.

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

PK: In search of God!

Controversies about the film PK are yet to settle down. Meanwhile, the film has gone on to be the highest grosser ever in India’s film history with a whopping collection of over 280 crore rupess and might even cross the 300-crore mark. One wonders if all the negative publicity the film earned actually worked in its favour. Could be. However, one cannot ignore the meticulously hewn script and strong performances of the actors.

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

PK: Behind the scene

Rajkumar Hirani, the director, is a master craftsman. All his films till date have been massive hits. And it is not so much due to extensive publicity, as painstaking efforts while making the film. He is a creative genius and knows what works in the Indian ethos and what doesn’t. To that extent, he is perhaps well entrenched in India’s cultural heritage more than the infamous rightwing hooligans.

Coming to the film, PK raises several questions about institutional religions and, of course, God. Not so much the God who is the master artisan of the universe, but god, or rather many gods, that his so called ‘custodians’ have created. It seems very funny that a godman in the film asserts that he would go to any extent to ‘save his god’. Who should save whom?

The film has come at the right time with several self-styled godmen being arrested in India for their crimes and the frenzy of people’s superstitions being exposed. PK perhaps could serve in helping people come out of their illusions and delusions. Rather than seeing the film from that angle, the fanatics are yet again out to prove that they are pontificators of all religious superstitions in India.

As always, dialogues are another strength of Hirani’s films. The class performance of Amir Khan, Anushka Sharma and others has only added to the flavour. Long live Hirani’s tribe and bad luck to the rightwing fanatics!!

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

Tabarana Kathe: Journey of pain!

Girish Kasarvalli’s film Tabarana Kathe, though made in the 80s, is still very relevant to our times. The film received Golden Globe award from the President in 1986. In fact, Kasarvalli has achieved this fete four times to four of his films, perhaps one of the very few directors to peak such heights. The film has been made available in DVD format recently and is a worthwhile watch.

Poornachandra Tejaswi

Director: Girish Kasarvalli

Tabarana Kathe is based on the short story by writer Poornachandra Tejaswi. It narrates the grueling journey of Tabara, the class four government employ, to claim his pension. However, at each stage there are far too many hurdles than poor Tabara can ever cross. In the bargain, as fate would have it, he loses his wife and his mental equilibrium as well.

Just the other day, a minister in the Karnataka government made reference to this film. He said that government officials must watch this film and make sure that common people do not end up like Tabara. One can effortlessly take home the undertones. The red-tapism which is an essential ingredient for corruption is practiced in government offices as a matter of routine. Not just the Tabaras, but even the highly civilised and educated lot also cannot easily crack such stonewalls without greasing the palms of powers that be! While the rich will have their way without any qualms of conscience, it is persons like Tabaras who have both to be wary of their conscience as well as their deprived plight.

The lead actor Charu Hasan as Tabara is a personification of typical common man. The masterly touch of the director is visible in every frame – leading actors and the camera in tandem.

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

The world before her: The fanatic and the modern of it!

It is rarely that a documentary gets widespread theatrical release in India. But, The world before her is that rare exception. The film, made in 2012, was released in India this year and rightly received critical acclaim. And why not? The film is a dispassionate account of two worlds existing in India. No, they are not India and Bharat. Neither are they rural and urban. They are the worlds of the fanatic and the modern. These two worlds are presented through the profiling of basically two women.

 Director: Nisha Pahuja

Film Clip

Prachi Trivedi represents the fanatic. She is an animator at Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishat, actively involved in poisoning the minds of young girls. Ruhi Singh represents the modern. She is contesting the Miss India contest. It is interesting and hilarious at the same time how these two women and their ambitions are juxtaposed. For example, the final contest of Miss India event with all its glamour, make-up and glitter is montaged with girls at the Durga Vahini camp getting ready for the passing out ceremony and thereby getting ready to ‘defend the country’, ‘defend Hinduism’, even if it means to ‘kill somebody’.

The credit goes to the film maker (Nisha Pahuja) for not making any value judgements. She is happy just presenting the images creatively before the audience who can gage for themselves the hidden meanings behind these images. While Durga Vahini has given Prachi certain amount of power and authority (she is happy that girls in the camp are scared of her), the upbringing and the exposure to the modern world has helped Ruhi become ‘somebody’ in life, even if she does not make the final cut in the Miss India contest.

The documentary is indeed a credible venture allowing the audience to get a glimpse of these two worlds existing simultaneously. Not to forget, the smooth flow and excellent editing, coupled with soothing background score and non-interfering camera work have made the film both entertaining and educative.

- Melwyn Pinto SJ 

Finding Fanny: Journey within

Finding Fanny is an odd film amidst hundreds of Bollywood films that vie for attention every week. It is an off-beat, yet deeply sincere attempt to craft human search for love. The film falls in the genre of road movies. While on the road on a journey in search of a long-lost love, each of the five characters finds himself/herself, or rather they find their true destiny.

Director: Homi Adjania

Film Clip

Each of the five characters that journey on the road to find Fanny, has a love story that has never been explored as yet. However, each of them is embroiled in a precarious situation that needs to be overcome. While those that can rise above their self-centredness end up happy, one of them, the most egocentric, disappears into oblivion. What lingers on with the audience is the ‘ideology’ of the film: even while life ends, love lasts forever. And this thought is put across in the narration as simply as possible. In fact, the film itself has a very easy take on life. You find the characters living life with very few of its complications.

The casting has been near perfect, with legendary Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia and Pankaj Kapoor giving the film a classic character. Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor are the younger and romantic additions. One must say, in this film it is these five characters, more than anything else, who define the soul of the film. Of course, one must not forget the typical Goan-Portuguese style music and the scenic picturisation. The Goan backdrop adds natural flavour to the overall theme of the film. 

- Melwyn Pinto SJ