About 18 to 19 hours
of uninterrupted cinema and more cinema
over the weekend ..As the memories are still fresh my mind prompts me to write about my experience
Good cinema is a bouquet of emotions and thoughts .For cinema
buffs the the Jagran film festival(Mumbai edition-Fun Republic Andheri) that concluded on 30th
September then had an eclectic mix of movies, documentaries and shorts..A large enough bouquet.
In such festivals a great treat awaits us as you can glance thru the locales and
emotions that a character goes through the busy streets of Buenos Aires , to
the scenic locales of Himachal to the madness
that is Mumbai. Female directors as I observed ruled the roost at Jagran Film festival
.Not that the male directors weren’t good. Amongst the plethora of films that
we saw over the weekend (managing work and film balance:)) a few that stay with me….
Amo Akka ek se(we are
all one) literally sent a shiver down the spine and gave goosebumps as it chronicled
the fight for basic rights and land by
an illiterate but strong tribal woman leader- Jhilabai all of 89!Pratibha Sharma
is indeed a very talented director and she depicted not just the collective fight
but a range of emotions from loss to victory ,resilience and patience .A chance
meeting with Pratibha Sharma made us realise that she went through five long
years of work to make this documentary
shot in the Satpura range.
(you can watch the documentary promo here)
A chance technical glitch took all of us to the screening of Ribbon by Rakhee Sanidhya which addressed
the challenges of gender discrimination at work and child abuse –a horrific
evil that has sadly enough become a permanent feature of our society. The
subject was very sensitively handled and the lead actors Kalki Koechlin and Sumit
Vyas were amazing.In the audience interaction some questions were surprisingly asked if the problem of child abuse really
exists .. To which my friend promptly told me that the concerned person seems
to be living underground not aware of the reality around him..
Counterfeit Kunku by
Reema Sengupta with its catchy title,moving theme and innate pathos stole everyone’s
heart.It is about a single woman’s struggle to find a rented
tenement as generally rented houses are denied to single folks( and if I may
add in many localities also based on caste, religion , food preferences etc ).She
then wears kunku(sindoor/ vermilion) and dresses as a married lady and manages
to get a house
Maya was one of
the shorts that delineated the story of a fiercely independent woman , love , longing
and struggle to build new relations even as the earlier ones get entangled in
myriad emotions and feelings.
A few notable ones were:- Las Acacia-an Argentine movie which
depicted a range of emotions from loss
to wait and hope, The Dawn-an Assamese film which dealt with grief, loss and
again revival of hope, Vodka Diaries – a Hindi psycho thriller that revived
memories of European cinema .Juze-a Konkani film which tackled the topic of
exploitation, moral depravation and a flicker of hope toward the end!
Then there were endless
shorts and other movies which marked the entry of many young and talented
Directors. It was heartening to know that good cinema is alive and kicking and
there is a whole new generation ready to take the mantle ahead.
The festival ended with a film by Anurag Kawatra – Kuch Der
aur (Wait a while)which dealt with the rather sensitive topic of a young boy’s
life, associated ups and down and coming of age in the bylanes of Chandni
Chowk! As you reflect you realize there
is a wait associated with each turn that life takes whether it is the protagonist's
or yours. A sudden discovery ,a loss, search, wait and again revival of hope
even as the protagonist makes new associations
, loses them , gets them back..chance encounters and all and the wait continues
.. Well till the next Film Festival for cinema buffs likes us .. and no prizes
for guessing that it is the MAMI Film Festival in October end..
No comments:
Post a Comment