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The Indian Panorama is a mixed bag of films at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) - 2004, in Goa with the mainstream vying for attention with the art-house. If on one extreme there is a film like Chayam, the story of a boatman set over eight days and nights that plays on images alone, on the other end is Sudhir Mishra’s Chameli which explores the underbelly of Bombay’s sex racket at a superficial level. The 41 films that include 21 features and 20 non-features attempt to showcase the best of Indian cinema.
The selection of these films was done from over a 100 films screened over a month for a five-member jury, headed by the well-known filmmaker Shaji N. Karun (Piravi) and included others like Leslie Carvalho and Pinaki Chaudhury. Apart from two films Maqbool and Choker Bali (premiered at IFFI 2003), which are being repeated this year all the other films are new.
The Panorama also sees another first this year. Sudhir Mishra takes away the unique distinction of getting two of his films included in the Panorama. The first one is Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi – a powerful political statement about the student unrest in the 1970s in India, seen through the eyes of three students Siddharth (Kay Kay Menon), Vikram (Shiny Ahuja) and Geeta (Chitraganda Singh) who in their own ways seek to make a change or adapt in the turbulent times.
The second one is Chameli which has had its theatrical release in January this year. Starring Bollywood starlet Kareena Kapoor and the reticent actor Rahul Bose, it is a story of a banker who is forced to spend a stormy night in an old monument in the company of a prostitute Chameli. Going through a personal crisis, he doesn’t want Chameli physically but unwittingly begins to enjoy her companionship as the night wears on. A thought-provoking film which would have been a little more different had Mishra been given the charge of the project initially. But Mishra was brought on board a little later after the sudden demise of the original man at the helm Anant Balani.
Then there is Satyajit Bhatkal’s Chale Chalo – The Lunacy of Filmmaking on the making of the Oscar-nominated film Lagaan. Bhatkal who gave up his career as a lawyer to become a filmmaker debuts with this non-feature, which has been very well received during its screening at the IFFI 2004. The film attempts to showcase the joys and tribulations of filmmaking while operating on a simplistic, linear narrative dotted with interviews of the cast and crew. Since Lagaan has already become such big news (commercially made over ten million) it would perhaps have been more interesting to focus on the post-Lagaan hysteria and then move back and forth corroborating the reactions of the audience with the on-location footage. But there can be no denying that it is a worthy first attempt. Chale Chalo won a National Award for the best Exploration/Adventure film.
While the Panorama stipulation states that the films have to be selected on the basis of "thematic and technical excellence as also those that have innovative cinematic approach to filmmaking," few deny that the entered films range from very bad to very good. In addition, there is hardly any film that is innovative in tone. They may be becoming technologically very strong. A case in point is Joseph Pulinthanath’s Mathiya whose maker trekked with his crew and equipment on bullock carts in the middle of the forest in the North-East to reach the locations. The entire journey was converted from a video format to 35 mm. The film is the first to be made in the Kokborak language spoken in Tripura. Unfortunately, the film also lost a member of the crew to forest malaria during the shooting.
The film package also includes Heda Hoda, a children’s film by Vinod Ganatra. Titled The Blind Camel the film is about a sister-brother duo who stay with their parents on an Indo-Pak border village, named Dharang. Once their camels whom they have taken out for grazing stray into Pakistan, Sonu (the brother) unwittingly crosses the border. Accompanied by an elderly couple, Sonu is brought back to his side of the border but the experience has left everyone involved a little wiser and sensitive. In the words of the director, "Heda Hoda is a depiction of the innocence of children and the affection of animals over bureaucratic laws".
The package attempts to include as many languages and as much variety as is possible. It also has the National Award winner Shwaas by Sandeep Sawant, a story of a seven-year old boy who faces blindness after a surgery meant to remove a rare type of cancer, and who has to be mentally prepared for the life ahead. Then there is Mansarovar by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) graduate Anup Kurien, Iti Srikanta a film based on Sarat Chandra novel Srikanta, which has been televised earlier. Sarat Chandra’s other novel Devdas has also been a favourite with creative people – especially so in film. It has about five film versions including one by the master of Indian neo-realism Bimal Roy starring Dilip Kumar.
*Film Critic
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