Unabashedly profane, unapologetically promiscuous, and gleefully provocative, Gandu has taken Indian cinema to places it has never been before (pun intended). It is unlikely that this ‘extreme film’, directed by Bengali auteur Kaushik Mukherjee aka Q, will ever see the light of day in its own country, despite the rave it has managed to generate abroad and its semi-‘cult status’ in niche, underground film circuits. The eponymous ‘Gandu’ (which is a dirty slang in Indian languages) is a disillusioned young lad and a wannabe rapper (energetically played by Anubrata) – he hates his life and vents his frustrations through his angry, pulsating, expletive-ridden rap songs. His life comprises of doping, watching pornographic videos, buying lottery tickets using stolen money, and forming garish fantasies with an attractive, nameless woman (Rituparno Sen aka Rii in the boldest turn by an Indian actress ever) who he silently craves for. He lives in a sparse apartment with his mother (Kamalika), who is the mistress of a chain-smoking local businessman (Shilajit), and his only friend is Richsha (Joyraj), a Bruce Lee idolising rickshaw-cyclist. Most of the film has been shot in high-definition black-and-whites – the starkly beautiful photography managed to splendidly capture the hollowness of the protagonist’s lonely existence, as also the grime, grunge and edginess of the hyper-stylized film’s contents. Interestingly, the explicit fantasy sequences have been shot in blazing, resplendent colours, thus accentuating their sleazy, fetishistic, surreal and hallucinatory nature, while also contrasting Anubrata’s skinny physicality with the brazen voluptuousness of Rii. The dialogues are largely improvised, while the editing is deliberately jarring.
Director: Kaushik Mukherjee
Genre: Drama/Urban Drama/Psychological Drama/Musical/Experimental Film/Avant-Garde
Language: Bengali
Country: India
A lot of movies try to teach us the importance of life and preach us as to how we should appreciate the fact that we’re alive; suffice it to say, most of such corny didacticism do not manage to pierce our skins, leave alone touching our hearts. Groundhog Day successfully managed to be the rare aberration, an outlier, to the above statement. Bill Murray has the wonderful ability make one laugh as also touch a chord or two simply through his facial expressions, and he used that caliber memorably in this deeply enjoyable pop-philosophical tale of life and love, through his enactment of Phil, a cynical journalist whose misanthropy is as deep-set as it is profound. Sent on an assignment he loathes - that of covering the titular annual ritual, held in a small, peaceful town – along with his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry, he goes about his job with his usual sense of apathy. However, despite his eagerness to leave the place as soon as possible, he gets time-warped and trapped into living the same day over and over again – and this turns out to be particularly bizarre since none of the other people seem to be realising his strange predicament. Over the course of this bittersweet movie we see him experiencing the entire gamut of emotions – from desperation and boredom to happiness and contentment, and his immensely affecting transformation into a man who starts realising how deeply he is in love with Rita and appreciating the beauty of being alive. This really turned out to be that rare high-concept movie with the ability to enthrall emotionally rather than just impress viscerally. And yes, it also managed to be that rare life-affirming movie that worked.
Director: Harold Ramis
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Fantasy
Language: English
Country: US
Songwriter, singer, actor, director – Anjan Dutt has donned quite a few hats in Ranjan Ami Ar Ashbo Na, as he’s done in his life. Like his delectable Madly Bengali, this movie too is based on the theme of music. Here he has played an ageing yet still immensely popular rockstar/ songwriter who takes Ranjana, a talented young ingénue, under his aegis. His initial intent for doing so was not, well, gentlemanly; living a life of ennui, guilt, self-hatred and severe loneliness, all he wanted was to have some easy fun with her. However, their relationships slowly evolve and he does finally accept her as his protégé in order to unravel her true talents. The movie has large doses of self-referential content, including, among others, having one of his most popular numbers as its title, the display of his deep admiration for fellow songwriter Kabir Suman, jamming on-screen with renowned and veteran performers like Amyt Dutta (lead guitar), Lew Hilt (bass guitar) and Nandon Bagchi (drums). The movie’s themes are quite fascinating, and portions of it are quite interesting – especially the interactions between the characters of Dutt and Suman; however, in large parts, the execution left me a tad disappointed – especially the inability to rein in the emotional content of the script. The music composition is good, and debutante Parno Mitra did a good job as the neophyte who has arrived in Calcutta with big dreams in her eyes.
Director: Anjan Dutt
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Showbiz Drama/Musical
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Badmaash Company has tried really hard to be a stylish new-age thriller. To leave no stones unturned, the director employed a series of tricks he has learnt, possibly from watching a slew of popular Hollywood thrillers; he even mixed a number of stereotypical Bollywood tropes and clichés for old-times’ sake. The end result, if not entirely unwatchable, wasn’t particularly memorable either. Karan (Shahid Kapoor), like any “hero” worth his salt, is not just a jack of all trades, but also a master of all. However, the only catch is that he wants to earn a quick buck and is ready to bend a rule or two in order to do so. So he enlists the help of two of his friends, as well as a feisty pretty-young-thing (Anushka Sharma), and starts concocting elaborate plans of fooling the authorities and making some good money in the process. The plan with which they start their business was ingenuous and smart – if only the rest of the movie could retain that flavour my review would have taken a different turn altogether. With each new plan that our hero conjures, the director starts testing the intelligence (or rather, gullibility) of his audience more and more, until things start looking pretty ludicrous even for ones with gray-cell deficiency. And, as I mentioned earlier, heavy injection of standard and overused ‘Bolly’ plot devices, like the ‘honourable father-dishonest son relationship’, or ‘money turns good guys into self-destructive jerks’, or ‘hero seeking redemption and bloody well getting one’, among others, dash whatever promise the movie’s initial premise had. As for acting, especially that of Shahid Kapoor, the lesser said the better.
Director: Parmeet Sethi
Genre: Thriller/Con Movie/Buddy Film
Language: Hindi
Country: India
Shatranj Ke Khiladi, loosely adapted from a short story by Munshi Premchand, was the sole movie made by Satyajit Ray in Hindi. Set a year prior to the 1856 Sepoy Mutiny, this beautifully crafted film is a mild satire on the then-existing social structure and mores, and a bemused observation on what could be construed as a microcosmic representation of the events that led to the massive uprising. The movie has two parallel strands. On one hand we have Mirza Sajjad Ali (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mir Roshan Ali (Saeed Jaffrey), two noblemen obsessed with the game of chess and oblivious to the socio-political changes taking place around them, while on the other we have Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (Amjad Khan), the ruler of Awadh, who is more inclined towards the pursuit of arts than matters of administration – which conveniently forms the basis for General Outram (Richard Attenborough) to push for the annexation of the kingdom. The three Indian characters are bound by a common string – their grandiose proclamations of courage and justifying their faux-sense of bravery through illustrations of their long-dead forefathers, and yet at the end of the day acquiescing and continuing in their states of stupor by taking shelters in their intellectual/aesthetic delving. The nuanced performances of the cast was complemented by the captivating voice-over provided by Amitabh Bachchan – the narrator doesn’t just provide us with excellent facts, but also amused reactions at the tragi-comic chain of events. Ray marvelously captured the ennui, idiosyncrasies and elegance of Lucknow’s famed erstwhile elites, noblemen and kings through this charming and delightful audio-visual feast.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Social Satire/Comedy of Manners/Historical Drama
Language: Hindi/Urdu
Country: India
Aparna Sen followed up her marvelous debut film 36 Chowringhee Lane with this layered tale of forbidden love. The titular character of Paroma, played by Rakhi, is a conservative, middle-aged Bengali housewife who lives a mundane existence completely engrossed in her various familial responsibilities. Her life has converted into a series of well-rehearsed activities surrounding her husband (Dipankar De), who’s an executive in a large company, her children, and her mother-in-law. However, her eventless life takes a sudden turn when Rahul, a famous photographer (Mukul Sharma), decides to make her the subject of his next project. Before long Paroma, with all her repressed frustrations and dreams, gets entangled into a potentially scandalous relationship with the younger guy. The narrative was dealt with enough sensitivity and maturity, and Rakhi did a superb job in capturing her character’s memorable metamorphosis. And, despite its strong feminist subtexts, the director did a commendable job at keeping them under bay. However, the emotional content of the film at times went overboard, which in turn opened the doors for a few clichés here and there in terms of plot developments and characterizations. Some of the best parts of the movie take place when Paroma and Rahul explore the city of Calcutta (including an under-construction Vidyasagar Setu!), as well as Paroma’s ancestral but now dilapidated house and her days of growing up – these joint explorations of theirs turn out to be as much physical as psychological.
Director: Aparna Sen
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Urban Drama/Romantic Drama
Language: Bengali
Country: India
A few years back I’d seen a movie called Life in a Metro where one of the segments, as I’d found out, was “inspired” from The Apartment. Though I’d been wanting to watch this Billy Wilder classic since then, somehow I managed to do so only recently. Widely regarded among Wilder’s best works, this offbeat and bittersweet romantic comedy managed to bring smiles to my face despite, in essence, being a tragedy for most parts. C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a desk clerk at a huge insurance corporation, rising through the ranks at a brisk pace thanks to his willingness to loan out his apartment to his philandering superiors. This information soon reaches the ears of his slimy married boss (Fred MacMurray) and he too muscles his way into the bandwagon – the only catch being the girl the latter intends to be along with in his apartment is the cute and gullible elevator girl (Shirley MacLaine) Baxter has fallen in love with. Though filled with enough humour and wit to keep one laughing, its cynical and bleak depiction of high-flying corporate life, culture and mores, as also human loneliness and dearth of human values amidst the urban jungle, are impossible to ignore. And yes, neither can the inherent melancholia can be avoided. The movie boasts of terrific dialogues and a host a memorable moments, and not to forget, great performances by both Lemmon and MacLaine.
Director: Billy Wilder
Genre: Urban Drama/Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Country: US
