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The films in Panorama for IFFI-2008 are sure to please film buffs, writes
Derek Bose
WITH every passing year, the Panorama pickings for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) are getting curiouser and curiouser. What was originally conceived as a package "to showcase the latest and best in Indian cinema" has progressively fallen foul to unseemly controversies, fuelled by allegations of questionable selection procedures, political interference, barefaced lobbying and parochial bias. This year, surprisingly, no such allegations were made. Not a murmur was heard from any quarter about the films chosen for the Indian Panorama of the 10-day IFFI at Goa, which started on November 22. Somehow, everybody seems content with the 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films (mainly shorts and documentaries) being screened alongside the 500-odd entries from across the world. Indeed, a quick run through the Panorama package would reveal that there can scarcely be any reason for anyone to complain. There is something or the other in it for everybody — the organisers, filmmakers, cineastes, overseas agents`85 For the Bollywood lover, there’s Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar, Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par and Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday. For the highbrow arty sorts, there are the usual suspects — Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Oru Punnum Randaanum (Malayalam), Sooni Taraporewala’s Little Zizou (English-Gujarati), Girish Kasaravalli’s Gulabi Talkies (Kannada) and Umesh Kulkarni’s Vaalu (Marathi). For those who missed out on the National award winners earlier this year, here is the opportunity to catch up with the two ‘bests’ — Priyanandanan’s Pulijanmam (Malayalam) and Anjan Bose’s Bishar Blues (Bengali). Regional aspirations have also been taken care of adequately. Even a feature film in Kokborok (the language of Tripura tribals) — Yarwing — finds place in the Indian Panorama this year for the first time. The composition of non-feature films is just as comprehensive. From a deeply engaging Antardhwani by Jabbar Patel to the wildly flippant Dhin Tak Dha, the pretentious Apna Aloo Bazaar Becha to an indulgent biographical like Remembering Bimal Roy, a lavishly mounted Journalist And The Jehadi to the musically based Three Of Us`85 everything, from the sublime to the ridiculous has been included here. Once again, the intention has been to rustle up an Indian meal with as much variety as to please all palates. This is exactly how things ought to be. The Indian Panorama of an IFFI is not so much about merit (the National Awards are supposed to take care of that) as it is of being truly representational of contemporary filmmaking trends across the country (and not just Bollywood). It is meant to give foreign visitors to the IFFI a sampling of our capabilities in cinema in an encapsulated form. A Panorama film draws its prestige not only from the exposure it gets at the event, but more significantly, in the assurance of being the ‘official Indian entry’ at every other overseas film festival for the next 12 months. Moreover, prints of Panorama entries are automatically subtitled at government expense and end up in the film libraries of all Indian Embassies and High Commission abroad. The mileage that a filmmaker stands to gain from being on the Panorama is, therefore, tremendous. It is the springboard from where talent like Ketan Mehta, Saeed Mirza, Gautam Ghose and Manmohan Mohapatra were launched and in time, found global recognition. True, there could have been other reasons as well for their claim to fame. But nobody can deny that the platform which the Panorama provides for a filmmaker to be noticed internationally can scarcely be matched by all the awards, accolades and publicity stunts he might engineer in the country. A sneak peek at the works of some such ambassadors of our cinema would be in order: Valu (Marathi): Three characters, a wild bull, a reluctant forest officer and a village deep in the interiors of Maharashtra. Debutant director Umesh Kulkarni weaves these elements into an apocryphal tale, taking off from the common religious practice of letting a bull loose in a village in god’s name. The bull (from which the film derives its title) roams about freely in the small village of Kusavade until it gets mad and goes on a rampage. To counter the havoc, a forest officer is drawn in. Atul Kulkarni plays the role, while Mohan Agashe, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Bharati Achrekar lend support in this remarkably witty but thought-provoking film. Gulabi Talkies (Kannada): Based on a short story by Vaidehi, this is a typical Girish Kasaravalli film about a lonely midwife with a passion for films. Her husband has abandoned her and she is not much liked by her neighbours. But she couldn’t care less, so long as she gets her regular fix of first-day-first-shows. One day Gulabi brings home a colour TV set with a cable connection. Not only the neighbours who despised her, but her estranged husband Moosa start visiting her house to watch films. Oru Punnum Randaanum (Malayalam): Also known as Climate for Crime, this is a period film set in the 1940s in the princely state of Travancore, against the backdrop of World War II. It binds together four stories (by Thakkazi Sivasankara Pillai) by the common strand of crime: the first, a poor schoolboy wanting to reform his father, a thief; second, two policemen colluding to frame an innocent rickshaw-puller on charges of burglary; third, the trauma a young man suffers over aborting the pregnancy of his girlfriend; and fourth, two men fighting over the attention of a beautiful woman, till one stabs the other. Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s masterly touch is evident once again (after Naalu Pennungal) in the manner the four stories are intertwined into a seamless whole. Yarwing (Kokborok): Meaning The Roots, the film is made by a young Catholic priest from Tripura. It bears a convoluted storyline about a young man who tries to get his wife re-united with her past love, who incidentally happens to be also his friend. It is just that this guy is untraceable and the young lady decides to keep waiting. Somewhere in all this, the director, Joseph Pulinthanath tries to establish that social and economic development can often ruin the lives of ordinary people and their culture. This would be inaugural film of the Indian Panorama this year. Remembering Bimal Roy (English): This is Joy Roy’s tribute to his legendary father, the director of classics like Devdas, Bandini, Sujata, Parineeta, Do Bigha Zameen`85 With clips from these films, the documentary comes up with loads of inside information on happenings behind-the-scenes during their making. The best part of this exercise is that instead of using a voice-over or commentary, Joy lets the film speak for itself through some of Bimal Roy’s closest associates like Dilip Kumar, Gulzar, Dharmendra, Nabyendu Ghosh and Kamini Kaushal. The family also chips in with valuable insights on the man and his life. These are five films, chosen arbitrarily, to suggest the diverse initiatives and the kind of experimentation filmmakers across the country are currently engaged in. Every film in the Panorama is an expression of the raw energy they bring on screen with an unexplored idea, a unique story-telling style and above all, a boldness of approach that defies box-office dictates. Most of these films are made on incredibly small budgets and can never be as high profile or remunerative as a Bollywood blockbuster. But they raise great hopes about the future of Indian filmmaking. They also serve as eye-openers to all those who feel that there are no more stories to be told in cinema.
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