H H S N S S I H A I I R S N R R T I H T IS HNATR NA TNASHNA RRIS HNIASH ISHRNIA NA TTRISTNRA TR ISTH ISHNA R R H H A T T S S N A I I s H N d R R r TTRISHNAISH T Wo By S n R o I l A T a v R A don T ISHN Lyn R T British director Michael Winterbottom’s chaotic collection of pet projects has ranged from the subdued period drama of Jude to the art-house porn of 9 Songs, and from the bright lights and colourful characters of 24 Hour Party People to the dark Huxley-esque sci-fi of Code 46. Trishna, a reworking of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, is the latest in a long line of surprises from a director who refuses to be pigeonholed. Perhaps scarred by memories of frostbite during the shooting for The Claim in Canada, Winterbottom’s most recent Hardy adaptation takes us to decidedly sunnier climes. Transporting Tess across centuries and continents, Trishna lands with a shudder on contemporary Indian soil. Playing fast and loose with the minor details, Winterbottom wrestles the heart from the story and sets it loose on new terrain. But while the physical setting might be different – the action spans from dusty Jaipur to glittering urban Mumbai and back again – the story still hits home. Trishna is a reflection on love and betrayal in a world where status and wealth mean everything. Freida Pinto plays the Trishna of the title, a young and beautiful girl who works hard to feed her family in a rural Indian village. When wealthy British boy Jay (Riz Ahmed) whisks her away from her home to work in his father’s hotel, she seems to have found her ticket out of poverty. But, as she soon discovers, nothing in life comes that easily.
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While he might be best known for his role in Chris Morris comedy Four Lions, Riz Ahmed steals the show as love interest Jay, a typical likely lad with a taste for beautiful places and beautiful women. Despite whacking the charm offensive up to eleven from the offset, Jay still comes across as trustworthy, solid – an all-round good egg. Ahmed plays the part with such an effortless style and natural cadence of speech that he seems just like someone you’d bump into down the pub. So when the corruptive and corrosive influence of power begins to take hold, it comes as a massive blow. It’s always a tricky prospect when a Western director offers an ‘eye onto India.’ Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire were both slated by critics accusing the directors of ‘poverty porn,’ of allowing Western audiences to revel in the beauty of others’ misery. But while Winterbottom doesn’t shy away from the realities of life in India, he neither exploits it nor idealises it. And while he turns an almost documentarystyle handheld camera on scenes of poverty and wealth, he still manages to side-step that thorny issue of representing the ‘real India’ but presenting a more general focus, cloaking an allegory for British colonial control within a personal story.
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pa traF pa tra pa trap str b nf a inf tru inFf t inf tain a e ul be ulpa insgbter ruul ibneg ul b ingfu tignui , , , g l gu g g e s l a i a a a , t u u g p n t ilib ndfu aiiilni rnadF ili nFdruil and F in ru ngegu lba nnfgug, trinus ngp ustin ili engdu Frl paa g,tr ain rag pa ng il usnidnf abti fu tin in i t engg l a bge, p b u n r a e l Flick through any g inf guat an u,il Fnrd gu writing on India and be ul iliing dFr inp ust i the same words will pop g , n gu ra a u a up: the country is a feast g s i n ili d paFr tr nf for the senses, with its bold us beat ul colours, its rich aromas. And, i n n g pa futraguin a predictably, it’s hard not to wax b eginf l at ilgi, lyrical about Trishna’s stunning landscapes, idngFng u its beautiful costume design and Amit Trivedi’s n b u i eg liln a ru Shigeru Umebayashi and haunting, ethereal soundtrack. , u It’s difficult not to be distracted by he countryside’s rustic, g ndpa i l unspoiled beauty or the slick style of its burgeoning ing in metropolis. be gu But even without all of these sensory, distractions, the film would remain a powerful, moving and intensely human story. Trishna is a fairytale ending that never comes true, a story of love, loss and the seductive and destructive influence of power. So while the final scenes might lay it on a bit thick – the choirs of singing children might have been a step too far – you can’t help but feel personally involved. It’ll make you want to reach into the screen and give a few of its characters a slap round the face. Frustrating, painful and beguiling, while Trishna is far from perfect, it’s clearly a labour of love.
Trishna is in cinemas 9 March
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