Pickle May 2016 Cannes Edition by Pickle -- Indian M&E Biz

INDIAN ENTERTAINMENT BIZ GUIDE MAY 2016 INDIA AT CANNES FILM MARKET 2016

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69TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW

No Room for Breathers Some of the world’s most loved independent directors and Cannes regulars – Ken Loach, Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodovar, Bruno Dumont, Olivier Assayas and the Dardenne brothers – are vying for the Palme d’Or says Saibal Chatterjee

he 21-film Competition lineup of the 69th Cannes Film Festival has an array of heavy hitters of world cinema. Its Un certain regard section, too, is peppered with films that have the potential to become sustained talking points. So, for hunters of cinematic gems camping in Cannes, these 11 days promise to be the busiest that they have had on the Croisette in years. Some of the world’s most loved independent directors and Cannes regulars – Ken Loach, Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodovar, Bruno Dumont, Olivier Assayas and the Dardenne brothers – are vying for the Palme d’Or. Also in Competition this year are Sean Penn, Park Chan-Wook, Asghar Farhadi, Xavier Dolan, Cristian Mungiu, Jeff Nichols, Nicole Garcia, Andrea Arnold, Nicolas Winding Refn and Brillante Mendoza, making this an exceedingly difficult contest to call. It is never easy to predict the award frontrunners in Cannes until a sufficient number of films have been unveiled, but the task for the star-studded jury headed by Australian filmmaker George Miller will be singularly challenging. While both diversity and gender balance might be an issue in Cannes this year as well, there is another worry: only a handful of the Palme d’Or contenders are first-timers in this league. This restricts

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to a great extent the possibility of big surprises being sprung upon us on the night of the awards ceremony. Germany’s Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), France’s Alain Guiraudie (Staying Vertical), Romania’s Cristi Puiu (Sieranevada) and Brazil’s Kleber Filho Mendonca (Aquarius) are the only directors in the mix who have never competed for the festival’s top prize before. Puiu is, of course, a known quantity here: his The Death of Mr. Lazarescu won the Un certain regard prize in 2005. The Romanian luminary has moved one step up with Sieranevada, a drama about death and grief inspired by a poem. Ade, one of three women in Competition this year and winner of the Berlin Silver Bear in 2009 for her second film, Everyone Else, is now in the Cannes big league. The other two women in the fray – Andrea Arnold of the UK and Nicole Garcia of France – have both been here before. Arnold is twice Jury Prize winner (for Red Road, 2006 and Fish Tank, 2009) while this is Garcia’s third time in the Cannes Competition after The Adversary (2002) and Charlie Says (2006). Arnold’s entry, American Honey, her first film shot in the US, is about a girl who joins a band of misfits in the Midwest. Garcia is competing with Mal de pierres (From the Land of the Moon), about a woman in a loveless marriage who falls

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JULIETA, directed by Pedro Almodovar

THE BGF, directed by Steven Spielberg (Out of Competition)

CAFÉ SOCIETY, directed by Woody Allen (Opening ﬁlm)

I, DANIEL BLAKE, directed by Ken Loach

for another man. Set in the years after World War II, the film is an adaptation of a novel by Italian writer Milena Agus. Frenchman Guiraudie, who is here with his fifth feature Staying Vertical, was adjudged the best director in the Un certain regard section in 2013 for Stranger by the Lake. Mendonca’s second feature, Aquarius, homes in on a retired music critic who wages a battle to save a two-story seaside building. Dutchman Paul Verhoeven, with his first film in a decade, returns to the Cannes Competition after a hiatus of a quarter century. He was here with Basic Instinct in 1992. This year, the 77-year-old director has made his first-ever French-language film, Elle, a psychological drama starring Isabelle Huppert as a businesswoman who is assaulted a by a stranger in her home and sets out to hunt the home invader down. Only three of the contenders – Loach, Mungiu and the Dardennes – have won the Palme d’Or before. So for many of the others, most notably Pedro Almodovar, it would be a chance to engrave their name indelibly in history. Almodovar, the Spanish maverick who won the Best Director prize in Cannes in 1999 for All About My Mother, would be hoping to get his hands around the big trophy this time around. His Julieta, which adapts three stories from Alice Munro’s 2004 anthology

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Runaway, would be among the Palme d’Or favourites from the very outset. The Dardenne brothers of Belgium had won the first of their two Golden Palms – for Rosetta – the year that Almodovar had to settle for the best director prize. Will the Spaniard turn the tables this year? The Dardennes, who won their second Palme d’Or in 2005 for L’enfant (The Child), are competing for the seventh time with La fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl), about a female doctor who sets out to ascertain the identity of an unknown young woman who died after being refused surgery. Mungiu, winner of the Palme d’Or in 2007 for the universally applauded 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, is back where he belongs with Bacalaureat. Among the American films in the fray is Jeff Nichols’ Loving, about a real-life interracial couple thrown into jail in late 1950s Virginia for marrying. It stars Joel Edgerton and Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga. Two other directors are representing the US in the Competition – the indie cinema legend Jim Jarmusch and star-actor Sean Penn. Jarmusch’s film, Paterson, the tale of a bus driver who writes poetry, brings together the unlikeliest of screen pairs – Adam Driver and Paris-based Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani. Penn’s film, The Last Face, set in war-torn Africa, tells the story of an aid agency honcho in Liberia, played by the director’s

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erstwhile girlfriend Charlize Theron, who begins a stormy relationship with a relief team doctor (Javier Bardem). Ken Loach, who had announced that Jimmy’s Hall (also in Cannes Competition) would be his last fictional feature, is back on the Croisette with I, Daniel Blake, the story of a middle-aged carpenter and a single mother confronting the challenges of the welfare state. Loach is a perennial Cannes favourite – I, Daniel Blake is his 19th film in Competition since he first came here in 1970 with Kes. Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn’s association with the festival obviously does not go such a long way back, but he, too, has a following here although his previous Competition entry Only God Forgives left many critics rather cold. Refn is in contention this year with The Neon Demon, a supernatural drama set in the Los Angeles fashion industry where an aspiring model faces more than her share of obstacles. Talking of Cannes favourites, can one get away without mentioning Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan? Only 27, he is already a veteran, having made an appearance here almost every year since debuting in Directors’ Fortnight in 2009 with I Killed My Mother. Dolan’s new film, It’s Only the End of the World, about a terminally ill writer who returns home after a 12-year absence to announce to his family his impending death, stars Gaspard Ulliel, Marion Cotillard, Lea Seydoux and Vincent Cassel. Kristen Stewart, who has a stellar role in the opening film of the festival, Woody Allen’s Café Society, also top-lines French director Olivier Assayas’s Englishlanguage film Personal Shopper, a ghost story set in the world of Paris fashion. Another French heavyweight in the race for the Palme d’Or is Bruno Dumont, whose Ma Loute (Slack Bay), starring Juliette Binoche, is a tragicomedy set in the summer of 1910. This is Dumont’s third Cannes Competition appearance. The Asian contingent, although not too strong numerically, is represented by three films that inspire instant confidence – Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman;

Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden, an adaptation of a Sarah Waters novel set during the Japanese rule of Korea; and Filipino auteur Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’ Rosa. There is so much else happening in Cannes this year Out of Competition, in Special and Midnight Screenings, and in Un certain regard and Directors’ Fortnight – that the media will be hardpressed to strike a balance between the absolute musts and the titles that can be missed for the moment. Out of Competition screenings offer Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, Jodie Foster’s Money Monster, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and The Russel CroweRyan Gosling starrer The Nice Guys. Jarmusch’s second film in Cannes this year, Gimme Danger, a documentary about the punk band The Stooges and its frontman Iggy Pop, gets a Midnight Screening. In Un certain regard, which is often the place where one goes looking for the real breakouts of the festival, there is a great deal to sample, including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After the Storm and Egyptian auteur Mohamed Diab’s Clash, which is the opening film of the section. In Directors’ Fortnight, films by two Chilean cult directors, one a seasoned icon, the other much younger maverick, will be the biggest draws: octogenarian Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Endless Poetry, a documentary about his formative years with Chile’s 1940s bohemian artists; and Pablo Larrain’s Neruda, in which Gael Garcia Bernal plays a real-life detective who hunted for the famed poet and political dissident Pablo Neruda. Directors’ Fortnight, which kicks off with Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, has four women directors, including Afghan debutante Shahrbanoo Sadat (Wolf and Sheep) and the recently deceased FrenchIcelandic filmmaker Solveig Anspach (The Aquatic Effect). One film to definitely keep an eye on in the parallel section is Oscar-winning American documentarian Laura Poitras’ Julian Assange film Risk, her follow-up to Citizenfour. Breathers between films will clearly be awfully difficult to come by at the 69th Cannes Film Festival.

Saibal Chatterjee is an independent New Delhi-based ﬁlm critic and writer who has worked on the staff of several leading publications, served on the editorial board of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s volume on Hindi cinema and authored a biography of poet-ﬁlmmaker Gulzar.

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EUROPEAN FILM MARKET 

IT ALL STARTS HERE. 917 FEB 2017

9,200 Participants 540 Exhibitors 1,600 Buyers 780 Films 1,100 Screenings WWW.EFM-BERLINALE.DE

69TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW

The Subcontinental Spread L

ast year, India registered a rare double in Cannes: two films from the world’s most prolific movieproducing nation – Masaan and Chauthi Koot – make the Un certain regard cut. Masaan went on to scoop up a couple of awards to boot. The 69th Cannes Film Festival, therefore, has to be deemed a disappointment from the Indian point of view. The country has drawn a blank in the festival’s 2016 official selection. So, is there nothing at all in Cannes this year to write home about? Well not really. Several films with an Indian, or at least a subcontinental, connection are being unveiled elsewhere in the festival. In Cannes Classics, which has quickly acquired a dynamic life and logic of its own, Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya’s The Cinema Travellers, a 96-minute film on Maharashtra’s tent cinemas, will be part of a nine-film package of documentaries exploring different aspects of the medium and its history. The Cinema Travellers has emerged from a research project undertaken by Mumbai-based documentarian and researcher Abraham and photographer Madheshiya as part of a six-week shortterm fellowship in Heidelberg, Germany. Among the restored prints to be screened in Cannes Classics is Pakistani writerdirector Aaejay Kardar’s critically acclaimed 1959 film Jago Hua Savera (The Day Shall Dawn). Kardar, who

Raman Raghav 2.0 directed by Anurag Kashyap (Director’s Fortnight)

passed away in 2002 at the age of 75, was a first cousin of Indian filmmaker Abdur Rashid Kardar. Jago Hua Savera, the result of a unique subcontinental collaboration, won a gold medal at the Moscow Film Festival and was Pakistan’s nomination for the best foreign language film Oscar in 1959, the year Satyajit Ray’s Apur Sansar, the third part of the famed Apu trilogy, represented India at the Academy Awards. Adapted from a novel by Bengali litterateur Manik Bandopadhyay by Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Jago Hua Savera was filmed in and around Dhaka in what was then East Pakistan. Its plot revolved around impoverished fishermen struggling to survive against all odds. The cast of Jago Hua Savera was led by Indian actress Tripti Mitra and Bangladeshi actor Khan Ata-ur-Rahman “Anis”. Calcutta’s Timir Baran composed music for the film. The film was shot by Oscar-winning German-born British cinematographer Walter Lassally, who worked frequently with British director Tony Richardson, Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis and James Ivory. Jago Hua Savera was the first Pakistani film to be internationally acclaimed for its realistic storytelling, a far cry from the melodramatic style favoured by a majority of filmmakers of the day on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. At the other end of the spectrum is,

The Cinema Travellers by Shirley Abraham & Amit Madheshiya (Cannes Classics)

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of course, Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0, a neo-noir thriller that will be premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight. Raman Raghav 2.0, Kashyap’s third film in Directors’ Fortnight after Gangs of Wasseypur Parts 1 & 2 (2012) and Ugly (2013), is about a real-life Mumbai serial killer of the mid-1960s. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the pivotal character, with Vicky Kaushal, seen in last year’s Masaan, essays the role of a cop who engages the criminal in a mind game. Marking a major breakthrough for Afghan cinema, 26-year-old Kabul-based writer and director Shahrbanoo Sadat also figures in Directors’ Fortnight with the Danishproduced feature film Wolf and Sheep. The first-ever arthouse film by an Afghan woman, Wolf and Sheep is set in the rural community of shepherds in which the filmmaker grew up. It is woven around a story that blends realism and magic and alludes to the myth of the Kashmir Wolf, a fearsome creature that walks on two legs and, underneath its fur, is a tall, green and enchanting fairy. Although she filmed in Tajikistan, Shahrbanoo has largely cast young actors drawn from an Afghan village. The kernel of Wolf and Sheep was developed with the Cinefondation Residence in 2010. In 2012, Shahrbanoo’s short fiction film, Vice Versa One, made it to the Directors’ Fortnight. In the other big section that runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival, Semaine de la critique (Critics Week), a Singaporean entry, K Rajagopal’s A Yellow Bird, a Tamil-Mandarin-English film, is among seven films competing for prizes. It is about an Indian-origin man who returns after serving a jail sentence for possessing of contraband goods. The man’s mother, played by Indian actress Seema Biswas, refuses to forgive him, so he goes looking for his wife and daughter even as he finds solace in the company of a Chinese prostitute.

A 29-year-old student of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, is among the 18 filmmakers vying for Cinefondation short film awards in Cannes this year. Saurav Rai’s Gudh (Nest), a 28-minute film, returns to the filmmaker’s growingup years in a small village near Kalimpong in Darjeeling district. The film has been selected from 2,300 titles entered by film schools from around the world. Cinefondation is in its 19th year and its competition line-up has as many as 10 women directors and seven film schools that have never been represented in this section. These films are competing for three awards that will be announced on May 20. The Atelier, also a part of Cinefondation, has an Indian project – Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Memories and My Mother – among a total of 15 participants in a section that facilitates co-production partnerships. The Bengali-language Memories and My Mother is proposed to be shot in Kolkata this year. Its synopsis provides a clear insight into its thematic purpose. It reads: “Cousins Bhaskar, Dolly and Manu live in the rapidly changing city of Calcutta. Bhaskar, a civil engineer, is at the centre of the city’s transformation into an urban jungle. Dolly, a television host of astrology shows, has an illicit relationship with the owner of a Ponzi scheme that has defrauded millions. Manu is the youngest and the only one living in and taking care of the dilapidated ancestral house. He runs his father’s old photo studio. Manu is constantly searching for his dead mother’s soul using various occult methods and practices…” Also in the Atelier is a proposed Nepalese film, The Whole-Timers, directed by Pooja Gurung and Bibhusan Basnet. - Saibal Chatterjee

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INDIA AT CANNES

Must-Meets at Cannes Market EROS ENTERTAINS India’s vertically integrated studio major Eros International have an unmatched library of catalogue of over 2000 films and their digital entity Eros Now is rocking. Eros reach out Indian film content in over 75 territories across the world and they play a lead role in spearheading India’s soft power every passing moment. Eros’s most visible faces Kumar Ahuja (President, Business Development), Pranab Kapadia (President, Marketing & Distribution) and Alice Coelho (VP, Syndication Sales) are at Cannes with their slate of new Bollywood films (Bajirao Mastani, Bhajrangi Bhaijan, Housefull 3, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Ki & Ka among others for the international market). Do check out the Eros Now App.

Pavilion in the Village No 112, Village International, is the hub for Indians at Cannes Film Festival. You can find the Indian independent filmmaking community in one place.The Pavilion provides Indian delegates with an opportunity to meet and conduct business with leading members of the international film fraternity thus creating a global footprint for Indian Cinema. This is a one point contact for Indians at Cannes. India Pavilion is the most happening place in the Village and the most sought after place for networking and cocktails. The interactive sessions at the India Pavilion are lively and useful. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, in partnership with FICCI, is organising the India Pavilion.

Facilitating Film Shootings in India The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has set up the Film Facilitation Office (FFO), with a view to facilitate and promote film shootings by foreign filmmakers in India. Meet Vikramjit Roy, Head, FFO at the India Pavilion. Vikramjit, a former Hollywood executive, has a new task cut out to facilitate and make shooting films friendly in India for foreign film producers. The newly created FFO would act as a facilitation point for film producers and assist them in obtaining requisite permissions, disseminate information on shooting locales as well as the facilities available with the Indian film industry for production/ post production, and work closely with 29 State Governments in assisting them to set up similar facilities.

Yash Magic Do movie fans in your country love Indian Bollywood Khans Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salmaan? Then you cannot afford to miss to meet Avtar Panesar, VP, International Operations, Yash Raj Films at Cannes. YRF’s new tentpole film Fan released last month starring Shah Rukh is a big hit. YRF’s Sultan (starring Salmaan) will release later this Eid. YRF’s Aamir starrer Dhoom 3 is the biggest action franchise in India. Avtar is at Cannes to showcase the current slate of YRF films -- Fan, Sultan, Befikre, Bank Chor, Meri Pyarri Bindu...

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FOX STAR HAS A LOT TO OFFER Fox Star Studios India has a promised lineup in 2016. Rohit Sharma, Head – International Sales & Distribution, Fox Star Studios India is at Cannes with Fox Star Studios India’s slate of finished films and films on development. Fox Star’s focus at Cannes is Neerja, biopic of an Indian Air hostess who saved 359 passengers on a PANAM flight that was hijacked in 1986 at Karachi airport. Neerja (director Ram Madhvani) is also a top contender in the foreign language film category to represent India at Oscar 2017. This thriller film is a break out hit in India and released in 30 countries in the international markets grossing over $ 20 million so far. Neerja has two screenings scheduled at the market. Fox Star Studios is at Cannes with Kapoor & Sons (Since 1921) and forthcoming productions M S Dhoni The Untold Story (director Neeraj Pandey), Akira (director A R Murugadoss), Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (director Karan Johar) among others.

Viacom’s Way Gayatri Gulati, Head (Revenues & International Business), Viacom 18 Motion Pictures is focusing on distribution and syndication of films Michael, Family Katta and Drishyam at Cannes Film Market 2016. Viacom 18 Motion Pictures is India’s finest fully integrated motion pictures studio that has emerged as a force to reckon with by delivering a stream of critically and commercially successful films. Offering differentiated and meaningful cinema, some of its iconic releases have been Drishyam, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, Manjhi - The Mountain Man, Margarita With A Straw, Mary Kom, Queen, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Gangs of Wassepur, to name a few.

Arka all the way The producers of Baahubali, the biggest blockbuster film of 2015 Arka Mediaworks are at Cannes to expand the reach of the film to new territories. Also, Baahubali will soon release in China. Arka is currently producing the second part of Baahubali, a two part Indian epic directed by SS Rajamouli. Baahubali is one of the largest films to be produced by a media house in India. Arka Mediaworks has many successful long running TV shows and currently produces 6 TV serials across several Indian languages. As a movie production house, Arka has produced several successful and critically acclaimed films such as Baahubali, Maryada Ramanna and Vedam. Arka’s Baahubali isi is represented by Francois De Silva for international territories.

Mediente in multiple languages Mediente International’s Manu Kumaran is a must meet from India at Cannes. Founded in 2002, Mediente International Films has produced 16 films in 5 languages and across 14 countries. Mediente’s Yellow is directed by Nick Cassavetes. It premiered to rave reviews and audience acclaim at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and has since been screened at several of the top film festivals around the world. Mediente’s filmography includes films such as Bombay Boys, a genre-defining Indie film that carried Indian cinema beyond the song and dance routine of Bollywood, and the award-winning Malayalam film Aakshagopuram, which bought together talent from India and the UK and set a new benchmark in East-West collaboration. Storage 24, a British horror film starring BAFTA award winner Noel Clarke was produced by Mediente and released in 2012 by Universal Pictures.

Visit India Pavilion 112 Village International 18

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SOLUTELY IMATION

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International Animation Film Festival and Market

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MARKET SCREENINGS FROM INDIA THURSDAY, MAY 12 GOD'S OWN PEOPLE A tree is felled to make new idols for the Hindu God Jagannath worshipped in Odisha, India. A group of temple servitors conduct the ritual with joyous abandonment. But for the lady of the household who nurtured the tree, it’s a moment of loss, longing, devotion and faith. Director: Nilamadhab PANDA, Shankhajeet DEY | Producer: Department of Tourism, Govt of Odisha

GRAY 5 20:30 hrs

English- Epic, Art - Culture, Documentary - 80 Minutes

Also on May 13 15:30 hrs at Doc Corner

SATURDAY, MAY 14 NEERJA biopic of the Indian Air hostess who saved 359 passengers on a PAN AM ﬂight that was hijacked in 1986 at Karachi airport Director: Ram Madhvani | Producer: Atul Kasbekar, Shanti Sivaram Maini, Fox Star | Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi Hindi - Thriller, True Story, Biography - 110 Minutes

Palais F 09:30 hrs

Also on May 16 14:00 hrs at Palais C FAREWELL MY INDIAN SOLDIER

Palais J 17:30 hrs

Farewell My Indian Soldier is a docu-fiction on the Indian soldiers who came to fight in France and Belgium during WW1. The presence of these 150,000 soldiers in Europe is a virtually unknown fact of history. During their furlough in France, some Indian soldiers and French women developed affection for each other, and children were born. This film is inspired by the moving story of one such child, son of an unknown Indian soldier and his French hostess on a farm. In Farewell My Indian Soldier, a young girl, a descendant of the soldier, journeys across France, Belgium, England and India, and weaves around it the story of the Indian soldiers. The film uses rare archive, 100-year old Indian war songs, and 600 insightful letters written home by soldiers about their experience in France. Director: Vijay Singh | Producer: Silhouette Films, RSTV (Vijay Singh, Gurdeep Sappal) | Cast: Paloma Coquant, Monique Soupart English, French - Docu-fiction - 61 Minutes

MONDAY, MAY 16 BAAHUBALI A mother chooses an adopted nephew over her own son to be the new King. The young King spurns the throne for love. But treachery and betrayal lead to his vile murder leaving behind an ostracised wife. Their rescued infant child raised by tribals returns to avenge his parents.

Palais K 20:30 hrs 20

Director: Rajamouli Sri Sailasri | Cast: Prabhas Uppalapati, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah Bhatia, Anushka Shetty |Producer: Prasad Devineni (Arka Mediaworks), Shobu Yarlagadda (Arka Mediaworks) Tamil, Hindi - Epic, Drama - 137 Minutes

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THOUGHT LEADER

PIERRE ASSOULINE Only Films, Paris / Westeast Films, Mumbai pierre@westeastямБlms.com

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Big Bucks or Quality Content – Which Is the Universal Language of Film? Indian mainstream filmmakers are losing the battle to attract domestic audiences abroad as they continue to misunderstand the universal language of film, says European film producer Pierre Assouline

s we know, for two decades mainstream Indian film producers have boasted of crossoverproductions without ever having even a single film actually make the cross-over. Now we see the Indian Media & Entertainment sector aiming for a revenue target of $100 Billion – a fivefold increase. Mainstream Indian films appear to have an international reach but the reality is that their audience abroad amounts mostly to an extension of their audience at home: the Indian diaspora. Mainstream filmmakers in India have not understood what it takes for cinematic language to be universal. If the Media & Entertainment sector wants to avoid similar disillusionment ten years from now, it must end wishful thinking and focus on the essential element which drives healthy growth: Quality Content. Undoubtedly, Quality Content. So why not start by expressing the M&E ambition in terms of Quality Content instead of $Billions? Big bucks should not be used as a placebo for Quality Content.

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Today American blockbusters are reaching an unprecedented high at the Indian box-office. Indian cinema is not benefitting from that imported growth in what will soon cease to be the least-penetrated market in the world Of course, broadband, 4G coverage, competitive OTT platforms, reducing taxation, anti-piracy, theater network expansion... are all essential for Content to be conveyed at its best. These technological vehicles are the body but Content is the soul. To keep body and soul together, let’s not just finesse the body. Let’s nourish Content with diverse original creation.

New approaches for Quality Content funding How to generate momentum for Quality Content production? Quality Content has greater possibility of being produced by individuals or small teams of individuals under proper guidance than by large conglomerates. This is truer today when content needed to satisfy all consumers’ preferences must cover a range of formats, genres, durations, wider than ever before. Indian production for example is practically absent from the worldwide craze for creation of innovative TV serials, or rather, just innovative serials as they are far more often watched on other kinds of device. There are large Studios both in Hollywood and in India which made the smart move to finance some independent filmmakers, but that effort remains far too marginal. To address the urgent need to fund and promote independent filmmaking in India on a large scale, here are a couple of possible strategies. The first has been used for decades in

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France and with political will could be implemented in India. Each admission to a theater carries a levy of 10.72% on top of government taxes. This percentage goes exclusively to the National Center of Cinema for redistribution to French film production and distribution. Today American blockbusters are reaching an unprecedented high at the Indian box-office. Indian cinema is not benefitting from that imported growth in what will soon cease to be the least-penetrated market in the world. On the contrary, American films take screens away from an Indian cinema already suffering from screenscarcity. Such a special levy applied to all admissions including Hollywood ones but redistributed only to Indian cinema production and distribution is a way to reverse or at least to arrest that negative trend. So that this special cinema levy does not adversely affect the number of admissions by inflating movie ticket prices, it could be partly or entirely funded from the entertainment tax, which in most Indian states is very high. A spin-off from this approach might be to change the way cinema is considered tax-wise. Just as Marathi films are tax exempted in Maharashtra or Tamil films in Tamil Nadu, independent films in general because of their cultural dimension should not bear the unfair burden of entertainment tax. Further funding for Indian film production could come from the exhibition sector. Cinema owners, especially Multiplex

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gaming, radio, etc., almost all given up today under constraint. If Reliance had focused its investment power simply on independent Indian cinema funding, production and distribution, they might have achieved wonders with a fabulous harvest of awards and an historic cinematic legacy. Repatriate cinema money from movie tickets, theater ad space, food and beverage sales. Redistribute it widely to small creative ﬁlmmaker teams under the guidance of trained producers. Encourage Quality Content, sit back and watch the best Indian ﬁlm ever.

chains, have always benefited from the powerful attraction of cinema to rake in revenue from ad space, overpriced beverages and snack sales. None of those significant profits generated by the power of cinema goes back to cinema. A fair share of those profits should ease funding of Indian cinema.

Producer training The second strategy, running alongside substantial funding of independent films, is an established training program for producers. This is what is needed to relieve the problem of Indian films coming nowhere again this year on the Cannes Official Selection list. All year round I watch Indian films with the potential to be on that list, but which don’t make the cut because the filmmaker is on his/her own, bereft of guidance and protection from an insightful producer worthy of the name. The filmmaker has no one to tell him: “No, refine your script before we go on floors...” “You feel you went as far as you could? Let me hire a new scriptwriter with a fresh eye.” “No, this actor would be a miscast.” “No, don’t let the star twist your initial vision.” “No, these subplots aren’t adding anything; they’re simply weakening your main story.” “No, these dialogues are redundant.” “No, more is not best, cut this scene and that other one too while you’re about it.”

Lessons learnt The mix of public and private funding along with proper guidance could boost Indian cinema internationally to an amazing extent. From the private sector, take Reliance Entertainment, for example. Reliance sprinkled investment around theater chains, studios, post-production infrastructures, lavish development “gifts” to Hollywood stars, TV, VOD,

IF RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT HAD FOCUSED ITS INVESTMENT POWER SIMPLY ON INDEPENDENT INDIAN CINEMA FUNDING, PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION, THEY MIGHT HAVE ACHIEVED WONDERS WITH A FABULOUS HARVEST OF AWARDS AND AN HISTORIC CINEMATIC LEGACY Join & Connect

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Film location: Delhi

FOR SHOOTING YOUR NEXT FILM IN DELHI MEET US AT CII PAVILION PALAIS -1 Stand 24.01

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LOCALE DELHI

Delhi has a Story Worth Telling

KAPIL MISHRA Delhi Tourism Minister, Government of Delhi Delhi is the one of the most beautiful capital cities in the world. What steps are being taken by the Delhi Government to bring global ﬁlmmakers and production houses to the Indian Capital? Historically, Delhi was the capital of many ruling dynasties including the British Empire. The city has a continuous living history of more than 3,000 years, has outstanding universal value with locales ranging from the walled city of Old Delhi to Modern India within miles of each other. It also has three World Heritage monuments — Qutub Minar, Red Fort and Humayun’s Tomb. A new government has been formed in Delhi by a 3-year-old crowd-funded political party, the Aam Aadmi Party, headed by a dynamic educated leader Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He has been named in the Fortune Magazine’s ‘50

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Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra invites ﬁlmmakers to discover the beauty of India’s capital city and promises to remove all hurdles to make their work and stay in the city worthwhile

Greatest Global Leaders’, who promotes progressive pro-industry policy and has a firm stance against corruption. Under his leadership, Delhi Tourism has been made the Nodal Agency for facilitating film shootings in Delhi. The soon-to-be implemented Single Window Clearance Mechanism of Delhi Tourism makes it convenient for film producers to get shooting permissions as there is no need to contact multiple agencies to shoot at various locations. We hope this initiative would bring global and Indian filmmakers to discover the beauty of Indian stories, locations, art, culture and heritage. What according to you are the advantages of getting a film shot in Delhi? Delhi has the requisite infrastructure: hotels, transport, communication, film shooting equipment and film processing. Trained and low-cost manpower in

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the field is available in the city. Delhi’s international airport is among the top four airports in the world and is capable of handling chartered flights. Further, the Delhi Government is committed to facilitate all film shoot permissions and help with production. Filmmakers can send in their applications directly to Delhi Tourism stating the desired locations to shoot at and the Film Shooting Facilitation Cell, Delhi Tourism, will do all the groundwork for them. It will help them with air bookings, hotel accommodation, ground transport and catering support for the entire film unit. Also, in close coordination with the Government of India’s Film Facilitation Office (under NFDC), we can help get permissions from the police, traffic police, airports, Archaeological Survey of India, municipal corporation and the Government of India. A lot of governments in India seem to promise single window clearance. How are you different? When we say single window and facilitation for every filmmaker, we mean it. Let me give you an example. The event industry, through a delegation EEMA (Events and Entertainment Management Association), met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal laying out their problems with licenses, corruption and process delays. Within 7 weeks of this meeting, we came out with a single window online clearance system for events in Delhi, which is an easy and transparent system, saving lot of money and time. The single online window system helps get things done within 20 minutes. As a result, Zubin Mehta, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and the Mozart of Madras A R Rahman performed in Delhi for the first time. All this happened in the last three months. On similar lines, we are awaiting concrete inputs from the film industry to make their

work easier. We will implement the inputs within two months of receiving them. Do you have a mechanism in place for film producers to contact when they face problem during a film shoot? We will be happy to assist the filmmakers through the course of shooting and would try and eliminate any problem or difficulty faced during the shoot. You are welcome to make enquiries with my office directly by writing to kapilmishraoffice@gmail.com and ccmintours.delhi@gov.in. A response will reach you within 24 hours with appropriate advice. That is my personal commitment. Tweet to me at KapilMishraAAP for even faster responses! What other initiatives do you have in store for the creative industry and filmmakers to engage with the city? There will be a massive city-wide worldclass festival to celebrate Delhi’s beauty for 15 days in November 2016. This will be similar to the Edinburgh Festival and Adelaide Fringe. A massive ‘Brand Delhi’ campaign will be launched by September to tell the real story of Delhi and its beauty across all media platforms. A creative media university and creative industries board for facilitation of creative media, supported by global giants, is in the works. We are also radically improving infrastructure across Delhi Tourism locations like Garden of Five Senses and Delhi Haats to make them beautiful and functional for film-makers and event producers. What is your message to the film community? You are the best storytellers in the world and Delhi has a story worth telling. It is my personal commitment that you won’t face any trouble or obstruction in telling your story. I want Delhi’s beauty, history, art, culture and heritage to reach every international audience. So, come to Delhi. We will ensure you have a great time!

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Film location: Gujarat

Winner of Indian government’s national award for the ‘Most ﬁlm-friendly state’, Gujarat is increasingly becoming the most preferred spot for the tinsel world. Filmmakers wishing to offer the audience an ‘eastern’ experience can land in Gujarat, for its traditional festivals like Navaratri or the kite festival, which can ﬁll up the screens with their vibrant and colourful themes. On the other hand, if serene beauty is the order of the day, the white desert in Bhuj, or the Great Rann of Kutch, can provide a fascinating glimpse of a world that exists on the other side. 31

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This princely state is the top choice for royal tales. With its imposing palaces and forts, the cities of Rajasthan might very well pass of as international destinations, thanks to its foreign tourists. The stories of Hawa Mahal, Mount Abu and the haunted forts in Alwar are waiting to be told on celluloid. The Cannes of India. Currently known as the host city for International Film Festival of India. A land of sun, sea and sand; feni, fun and frolic. Beaches galore, churches and saints, music and dance, festivals and carnivals. Where people enjoy music and dance and raise a toast to celebrate every occasion.

Rajasthan

Goa

The Cannes of India. Currently known as the host city of International Film Festival of India. A land of sun, sea and sand; feni, fun and frolic. Beaches galore, churches and saints, music and dance, festivals and carnivals. Where people enjoy music and dance and raise a toast to celebrate every occasion.

Assam

Kerala, commonly referred as Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own country never lets one down. A small stretch of land, with its cool mountains in the east, rolling hills in the middle which ultimately reach out to the West to the long stretches of pristine, untouched beaches. This unmatched visual feast is complemented by its famous backwaters sandwiched between the sea and the land.

Kerala

India in microcosm, Mumbai or Bombay as it was once known provides an excellent backdrop for the race that always finishes in the future. Slick and bright urban exteriors that have dark under bellies Taj Mahal in Agra, the symbol of love, interrupted by colours that connect across time. attracts filmmakers to film-friendly state Busy bustling daytimes with bright lit nights that of Uttar Pradesh since black and white blink and shimmer to a heady beat of people and era. The temple town of Varanasi offers a machines, avant garde and artless, incessantly never-seen-before cultural experience for on the move. the international viewer, with its prayers and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;aghorisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and the divine Ganges flowing by. The Buddhist relics at Sarnath, and Lucknow, with its influence of the erstwhile Nawabi regime, are other places that could double up as props for a film catering to a wide audience.

UTTAR PRADESH

a r t h s a r a Mah

Himachal Pradesh From hills to mountains, capped by snowy peaks; punctuated by passes and glaciers. Dotted by rich flora and abundant variety of wildlife with 90% of its seven million population people residing in rural areas. Himachal Pradesh has an abundance of parks, rich with flora and fauna and regions that experience temperature extremes.

The British are long gone but the colonial influence still remains, in the look of its buildings and monuments. Interiors and mindsets that havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t morphed with the times yet co-exist happily with today. The quaint hand-pulled rickshaws, the Chinese district. The boatsman taking people across the Hoogly as modern vehicles criss-cross the Howrah Bridge.

West Bengal

Ladakh If the Himalayas can be likened to an oyster, then Ladakh is the pearl. Nestled in the womb of Himalayas, the main attraction is the ninestoried royal palace styled on the lines of the famous Potala Palace of Tibet. There are the trekking trails, the temples of Chamba and Jo Kang Gompa and the Zanskar Valley.

Houses the Silicon City of India. And a whole array of health spas. A range of architecture depicted through its palaces, temples, mausoleums, monuments and ruins. Sanctuaries, national parks and waterfalls. Endless beaches, forests, scenic hills and modern cityscapes.

Karnataka

Puducherry Ang Lee’s Oscar winning film ‘Life of Pi’ was shot partly in Puducherry (in South India). That has transformed Puducherry into a paradise for filmmakers. A French colony until 1954, this coastal town retains a number of colonial buildings, churches, statues, and systematic town planning and is dubbed ‘The Europe of India’.

With temples that give an insight into its rich history, Odisha is becoming an increasingly popular destination for ‘start, camera, action’. The Puri Jagannath temple or the chariot-shaped Sun shrine can give modern architecture, a run for its money. The Sambalpur waterfalls and the Paradip port mesmerise one, with the confluence of river Mahanadi and Bay of Bengal, at its backdrop.

Odisha

The Dal Lake dotted with innumerable houseboats and the distant snow covered mountains. Each houseboat with its own interior layout. Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam at higher levels. A warm and outgoing local populace adding its own unique colour to the surroundings. A hint of uneasiness sometimes. And a visual of debris of violent terror attacks contrasts with the colours and culture of a peace-loving people and the beauty of the general environment.

Kashmir

Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex and one of Asia’s most popular tourism and recreation centers. Hyderabad features many heritage buildings constructed during Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras, showcasing Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval, Mughal and European styles. Hyderabad houses the Telugu film industry which produces over 200 films each year.

Telangana Jharkhand Jharkhand is a nature lover’s paradise. It is home to countless waterfalls -- Hundru Falls, Lodh Falls and Johna Falls. The State’s locales include forests, hills, valleys, waterfalls, wildlife, history, culture, charming towns and vibrant cities. It is an unexplored paradise and will be filmmakers’ delight for new locales.

Madhya Pradesh is called the Heart of India because of its location in the centre of the country. The State has everything --spectacular mountain ranges, meandering rivers dotted with hills and lakes and miles and miles of dense forests offering a unique and exciting panorama of wildlife in sylvan surroundings. Innumerable monuments, exquisitely carved temples, stupas, forts & palaces are dotted all over the State.

Madhya Pradesh

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OF THIS NEW MILLENNIUM

Since the turn of the millennium, Indian cinema, both commercial and auteur-driven, has seen exciting developments. Not only has there been an efflorescence of remarkable new directorial talents, many of the established creative forces have continued to yield magnificent films. Drawing up a list of the ‘100 Best Films’ to come out of the country in the last 15 years cannot, therefore, be easy. This list, like most lists of this nature, is neither comprehensive nor definitive. The intention simply is to try and capture the principal directions Indian cinema has taken during this period by throwing light on some of the more successful as well as more critically acclaimed films made since 2001. From crowd-pleasing big-grossers to uncompromisingly experimental works, from films that have pushed the boundaries to those that have made the best of familiar practices, the ‘100 Best Indian Films of the New Millennium’ has them all… Curated by LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK Saibal Chatterjeebiz guide pickle entertainment

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BLOCKB

BA IRAO MASTANI (HINDI, 2015) Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali A historical epic mounted with impressive pizzazz by Bollywoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high priest of cinematic opulence, Bajirao Mastani takes the audience back to an eventful point in Indian medieval history and narrates the tragic love story of an invincible Maratha warrior and a half-Persian princess.

BUSTERS

High points: Outstanding production design, costumes and cinematography make Bajirao Mastani a visual treat

AARANYA KAANDAM

(Tamil, 2011)

ANBE SIVAM (Tamil, 2003)

Dir: Thiagarajan Kumararaja

Dir: Sundar C

An ultra-violent, slow-burning and stylized neonoir thriller, Aaranya Kaandam marked the debut of director Thiagarajan Kumararaja. Focusing on one day in the North Chennai underworld, it hinges on the desperate bid by an ageing maﬁa don to regain his lost libido.

A ﬁlm that showcases Kamal Haasan’s versatility like few ﬁlms have done, Anbe Sivam (Love is God) is inspired by the Hollywood hit Planes Trains & Automobiles. But it manages to carve out its own philosophical space, effectively addressing a wide range of themes from workers’ rights to religious faith.

High points: Technically brilliant and marked by a keen sense of time and place

High points: Sharply etched characters, a ﬁnely chiseled screenplay and outstanding performances

ANNIYAN (Tamil, 2005)

BHOOTER BHOBISHYAT

Dir: S Shankar

Dir: Anik Dutta

A magniﬁcently mounted vigilante thriller, Anniyan extends director S Shankar’s pet theme: a oneman crusade against the ills inherent in Indian society and the system’s inability to eliminate them. The protagonist of the ﬁlm is a consumer rights lawyer who turns into a serial killer to exterminate wrongdoers.

Bhooter Bhobishay (The Future of the Past), a refreshingly original comedy, is about a group of ghosts who inhabit an abandoned mansion in Kolkata and ﬁght to ward off the designs of a builder who wants to raze the classical structure and build a multi-storied shopping mall in its place.

High points: Technical brilliance, a racy narrative and a powerful central performance by actor Vikram

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(Bengali, 2012)

High points: A lively satire about a metropolis struggling to save its past – a story that could be valid in many other urban pockets of contemporary India

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BAAHUBALI (Telugu/Tamil, 2015) Dir: S S Rajamouli A VFX-driven fantasy epic set in an ancient ﬁctional kingdom usurped by an evil ruler. The rightful heir wages war against the tyrant to regain control of the throne. A standard tale of valour, betrayal and vendetta enlivened by eye-popping visual ﬂair.

High points: The simplicity and timelessness of its story and its magniﬁcent packaging made possible by the wizardry of the graphic artists

CHAK DE INDIA (Hindi, 2007)

DABANGG (Hindi, 2010)

Dir: Shimit Amin

Dir: Abhinav Kashyap

Shimit Amin’s gripping sports ﬁlm, starring Shah Rukh Khan as a women’s hockey coach, takes in its sweep a range of themes related to nationhood, sectarian prejudice, parochialism and sexism. It remains one of the more socially relevant dramas to come out of the Yash Raj Films stable.

The action-packed tale of a police ofﬁcer in small-town Uttar Pradesh who resorts to means fair and foul in order to send criminals packing was a runaway box-ofﬁce hit. It spawned several imitations, including a far less successful sequel.

High points: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is in ﬁne fettle as are the girls who make up the team that works its way out of a trough

High points: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s thunderous dialogue delivery and a storyline that promises non-stop thrills

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DIL CHAHTA HAI (Hindi, 2001)

LAGAAN (Hindi/English, 2001)

Dir: Farhan Akhtar

Dir: Ashutosh Gowariker

The ﬁrst ﬁlm written and directed by Farhan Akhtar, the slickly mounted Dil Chahta Hai enjoys cult status among Bollywood fans. The plot revolves around three upper-crust Mumbai friends negotiating a string of emotional crises that severely test their friendship.

This cricket-themed saga set in a drought-hit colonial-era village is about a bunch of ragtag cricketers who take on a strong British team to ward off the tax backlog on their farm produce. Lagaan won an Oscar nomination, losing out narrowly to Danis Tanovic’s No Man’s Land.

High points: Marked by smart writing and littered with witty non sequiturs, the youthful drama is made convincing by a lively cast led by Aamir Khan

High points: Its ambitious canvas is bolstered by deft execution and vivid characters that spring out of the screen

KANNATHIL MUTHAMITTAL Dir: Mani Ratnam

LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI

(Tamil, 2002)

(Hindi, 2006)

Dir: Rajkumar Hirani

Director Mani Ratnam packs great emotional energy and dramatic flourish into Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek), a film about a nine-year-old girl adopted by a writer and his wife. The child sets out to search for her biological mother, a Tamil militant fighting in the Sri Lankan civil war.

A follow-up to Munnabhai MBBS, this one made an even bigger splash. The friendly underworld don imbibes the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, who reveals himself only to him and gives him tips on life. As a result, the goon goes about using peaceful means to help people solve their problems.

High points: Outstanding cinematography by Ravi K Chandran and a clutch of ﬁne performances by R. Madhavan, Nandita Das and Prakash Raj

High points: A sequel as good as the original – that is a rarity in cinema history. The Sanjay Dutt-Arshad Warsi duet is fantastic again

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QUEEN (Hindi, 2014) Dir: Vikas Bahl A girl is dumped by her would-be husband a day before the wedding and she decides to go ahead with the planned honeymoon all by herself. Her ride through Paris and Amsterdam exposes her to the world and new sensations. When she returns home, she is a woman transformed.

PK (Hindi, 2014) Dir: Rajkumar Hirani As gutsy a mainstream film as any in the history of Hindi cinema, Rajkumar Hirani’s PK is a satirical comedy that questions religious dogmas and blind faith. A humanoid alien lands in India and discovers a society steeped in superstition. The film ruffled many feathers but smashed box office records.

High points: A buoyant star turn by Aamir Khan and an entertaining script co-written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi

High points: Breezy script, steady direction by Vikas Bahl and infectious pivotal performance by Kangana Ranaut

VIRUMAANDI (Tamil, 2004) Dir: Kamal Haasan

PARUTHIVEERAN (Tamil, 2007) Dir: Ameer Sultan Set in a Tamil Nadu village, Paruthiveeran tells the story of a petty criminal’s fraught relationship with an upper-caste girl that ends in tragedy. The material is thin but the treatment more than makes up for what the ﬁlm lacks in depth and range. Riveting all the way.

High points: Strong lead roles backed by solid storytelling 45

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Written, produced, directed by and starring Kamal Haasan, Virumaandi enjoys cult status and has spawned many imitations. The Rashomon-like plot revolves around two prisoners – one serving a life sentence, the other on death row – and unravels the circumstances that have brought them here.

High points: A gripping storyline and strong acting LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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MASTERSTROKES

UTTY SRAN

(MALAYALAM, 2010)

Director: Shaji N Karun A body of a nomadic mariner is washed ashore. A Buddhist nun, a Christian woman and a mute lady come forward to claim his body. The ďŹ lm weaves a complex, intriguing portrait of a character while highlighting different locations and cultural and seasonal variations.

High points: Visually stunning and multi-layered narrative; Mammoottyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stellar performance

AJEYO (Assamese, 2014)

DWEEPA (Kannada, 2002)

Dir: Jahnu Barua

Dir: Girish Kasaravalli

Assam’s leading director Jahnu Barua’s Ajeyo (Invincible) is an adaption of Arun Sharma’s awardwinning novel to narrate a tale set in the years before India’s Partition. An idealistic young man in a small village ﬁghts social ills against all odds. In present times, his grand daughter, a senior police ofﬁcer, continues the crusade.

In the backwaters of a big dam, a village is going under water due to heavy rains. A family struggles to save its dwelling because the government compensation isn’t enough for them to begin life afresh in a different place. Dweepa (The Island) is one of Kasaravalli’s best ﬁlms.

High points: A powerful story told with unwavering control and a sense of how history is never a thing of the past

High points: Visually stunning backdrop and a profoundly moving story addresses environmental degradation and displacement

ALIGARH (Hindi, 2015)

GULABI TALKIES (Kannada, 2008)

Dir: Hansal Mehta

Dir: Girish Kasaravalli

A gay professor is hounded by a hidebound town and university and eventually driven to suicide. The true story is narrated with unimpeachable integrity and empathy for the ‘outsider’ ﬁghting a losing battle against an insensitive society.

This multi-layered masterpiece, set in a ﬁshing village in the late 1990s, probes the phenomenon of rising communal tensions linked to the Kargil conﬂict and its impact on Gulabi, a cinema-loving midwife whose TV set draws women of the community to her home.

High points: A knockout performance by Manoj Bajpayee as the wronged professor, with solid support from Rajkummar Rao

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High points: A superb central performance by Umashree and masterful adaptation for the screen of a Vaidehi short story

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JANALA (Bengali, 2009) Dir: Buddhadeb Dasgupta Buddhadeb Dasgupta addresses his pet theme – the lure of childhood memories. A man returns to his school and ﬁnds the building in a severely rundown condition, He decides to help out but does not have the means. As a result, tensions brew between him and his wife.

High points: Moments of lyricism masterfully tempered with the harsh realities of life

HAZAARON KHWAISHEIN AISI (Hindi, 2003)

KAALBELA (Bengali, 2009)

Dir: Sudhir Mishra

Dir: Goutam Ghosh

Set in the 1970s, in the years before and after the Emergency, Sudhir Mishra’s evocation of a turbulent period in Indian political history revolves around three college students who go their own ways only to ﬁnd their paths crossing again in the cauldron of a people’s movement that severely tests their idealism.

Made largely in the style of the radical political Bengali ﬁlms of the 1970s, Goutam Ghosh’s Kaalbela documents the unrest that led to the birth of the violent Naxalite movement. The ﬁlm, based on a 1980s novel written as part of an epic trilogy by Samaresh Majumdar, vividly evokes a turbulent era.

High points: A rare Hindi ﬁlm dealing with the eventful Emergency years during which many young people jumped into the bruising battle for a more just society 49

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High points: Seamless juxtaposing of past and present and rich visual and aural texturing

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KAALPURUSH (Bengali, 2005)

KATHAVASHESHAN

Dir: Buddhadeb Dasgupta

Dir: T.V. Chandran

A middle-class big city man with a failing marriage and a drab professional life seeks refuge in the memories of his childhood and tries to reconnect with his father. The film abounds in the surreal touches that define poet-filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s cinema.

A man kills himself. His ﬁancée inches ever closer to understanding the deceased’s mental state as she investigates the reasons behind his ultimate act of despair. Directed by T.V. Chandran, Kathavasheshan, which is indirectly set against the Gujarat communal riots of 2002, is a story told almost entirely, and very effectively, through ﬂashbacks.

High points: Stellar performances from the principal cast led by Mithun Chakraborty and the director’s unique ability to ﬁnd poetry even in the drudgery of life

(Malayalam, 2004)

High points: Chandran’s politically inﬂected sense of humanity infuses a deeply empathetic portrayal of a man ashamed to be alive

KANCHIVARAM (Tamil, 2007)

KOORMAVATARA (Kannada, 2012)

Dir: Priyadarshan

Dir: Girish Kasaravalli

Mainstream movie director Priyadarshan made an artistic detour to craft this intense drama about a silk weaver’s struggle to rise above his impecunious state in the years following India’s Independence from British rule. The ﬁlm traces the birth of the cooperative labour movement.

In Koormavatara (Tortoise, A Reincarnation), an ageing government employee on the verge of retirement is offered a role in a television show in which he has to impersonate Mahatma Gandhi. The spirit of the Father of the Nation percolates into him and poses challenges that are anything but easy to confront.

High points: Marvellous interpretation of the protagonist by Prakash Raj and a director at the top of his game

High points: The ﬁlm is marked by the quiet, meditative narrative style of Kannada cinema’s most celebrated auteur Girish Kasaravalli

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MONDO MEYER UPAKHYAN

(Bengali, 2002)

NAALU PENNUNGAL (Malayalam, 2007)

Dir: Buddhadeb Dasgupta

Dir: Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Working with multiple narrative strands, Dasguptadraws a parallel between several ordinary struggles in rural Bengal and man’s momentous landing on the moon. The principal story focuses on a prostitute’s daughter who is desperate to return to school and escape her mother’s fate.

Naalu Pennungal (Four Women) is an adaptation of four stories by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Set in Kuttanad in Kerala’s Alappuzha district, the ﬁlm narrates ostensibly unrelated stories in four chapters – The Prostitute, The Virgin, The Housewife and The Spinster.

High points: Dasgupta’s signature surreal touches lend the story a uniquely poetic quality

High points: A master ﬁlmmaker at his most accessible; Ajith Kumar’s brilliant editing

MR. AND MRS. IYER

NIZHALKKUTHU (Malayalam, 2002)

(English/Hindi, 2002)

Dir: Aparna Sen

Dir: Adoor Gopalakrishnan

In the skillfully calibrated Mr and MrsIyer, Aparna Sen probes India’s many fault lines. A married Tamil Brahmin woman befriends a Bengali Muslim photographer and the two keep up the pretence of being married during a bus journey interrupted by an outbreak of sectarian violence.

Set in the 1940s, the superbly crafted Nizhalkuthu (Shadow Kill) is the story of the last hangman in Travancore. Haunted by guilt at the realization that a man that he executed might have been innocent, he seeks refuge in alcohol and religion.

High points: A moving performance by Konkona Sen Sharma that anchors a powerful human drama

High points: The ﬁlm’s exploration of the limits of justice and redemption is marked by rare depth and a profound sense of humanity

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MAVERICK MOVIES

MISS LOVELY (HINDI, 2012) Director: Ashim Ahluwalia Set in the mid-1980s, Ashim Ahluwalia’s stylized Miss Lovely dives deep into the underbelly of Mumbai’s sleazy C-grade sexploitation ﬂicks. It tells the tale of two brothers who peddle cheap quickies and plunge into a destructive vortex of betrayal and subterfuge stirred by a mysterious young woman.

High points: A dizzying mix of stylistic elements drawn from 1980s Bollywood sleaze and a measured performance by Nawazuddin Siddiqui

AADMI KI AURATAUR ANYA KAHANIYAN (Hindi, 2009) Dir: Amit Dutta Made by one of India’s most ﬁercely independent ﬁlmmakers, Amit Dutta, this is an uncompromising and intriguing series of three episodes that explore the relationship between men and women and between humans and the spaces they inhabit and the objects that surround them.

High points: Cinema at its most rigorous and pure and marked by a vision steeped in a keen understanding of visual poetry

ANANDABHADRAM

(Malayalam, 2005)

Dir: Santosh Sivan Cinematographer Santosh Sivan’s first film in his native tongue, Anandabhadram transforms a story of sorcery into an exploration of Kerala’s most identifiable cultural emblems – Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings, Theyyam and Kathakali dance forms and Kalaripayattu martial arts.

High points: A rare ﬁlm that bridged the gap between critical acclaim and commercial success – it earned both in ample measure

AADUKALAM (Tamil, 2011)

ANKHON DEKHI (Hindi, 2014)

Dir: Vetrimaaran

Dir: Rajat Kapoor

Director Vetrimaaran tells the story of a young man who is exceptionally skilled at training roosters for cockﬁghts and the growing tensions between him and his mentor as his fame and popularity grows. Lead actor Dhanush won the National Award for his performance in the ﬁlm.

A middle-aged family man has an accidental epiphany and decides never to believe anything that he does not see. But he dreams of flying like a bird and soaring above all his worldly worries. Rarely has a Hindi film set in old Delhi been so alive to the defining characteristics of the place.

High points: Interesting plotting, believable characters, and convincing depiction of a milieu never seen before on the big screen

High points: A fabulous pivotal performance by Sanjay Mishra, wonderful gallery of characters, and Rajat Kapoor’s deft directorial sleights

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AREKTI PREMER GOLPO

(Bengali, 2010)

Dir: Kaushik Ganguly A sensitive and incisive portrayal of transgender individuals in a conservative society, Kaushik Ganguly’s Arekti Premer Golpo (Just Another Love Story) focuses on a ﬁlmmaker who sets out to document the life and work of a real-life actor known for playing female characters in Bengal’s folk theatre.

BAISHE SHRABON (Bengali, 2011) Dir: Srijit Mukherji A taut psychological thriller, Baishe Shrabon is about two policemen (one of them suspended from the force) hunting for a serial killer who leaves behind lines of poetry at the crime scene. The psychopath strikes on the death anniversary of famous poets but there is little else for the investigators to go by…

High points: Multi-layered screenplay, believable characters, insightful portrayals

High points: Stylish mounting and execution; red herrings galore; a startling climactic twist

BLACK FRIDAY (Hindi, 2007)

CELLULOID (Malayalam, 2013)

Dir: Anurag Kashyap

Dir: Kamal

Director Anurag Kashyap, drawing upon journalist Hussain Zaidi’s in-depth account, reconstructs the investigations into the March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts. The result is a riveting, pulsating thriller that is much more than just that.

Director Kamal’s recreation of the life and struggles of the father of Malayalam cinema, J.C. Daniel, Celluloid is solidly crafted biopic that brings to the fore rarely discussed aspects of the early years of cinema in Kerala and their deleterious impact on Daniel’s future.

High points: Its 12-minute Dharavi chase scene and the manner in which the ﬁlm confronts the darkness at the heart of hatred and murderous rage

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High points: Prithviraj’s sensitive portrayal of Daniel’s character and a well-researched screenplay

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CHAUTHI KOOT (Punjabi, 2015)

CHOTODER CHHOBI (Bengali, 2015)

Dir: Gurvinder Singh

Dir: Kaushik Ganguly

Set during the Sikh separatist movement of the 1980s, Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction) blends two stories by Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu. It captures the fear and foreboding that paralyzed people caught in the crossﬁre between Khalistani militants and government security forces.

A love story unlike any ever seen in India, Kaushik Ganguly’s Chotoder Chhobi homes in on the community of dwarfs who perform in a circus. The narrative brings out the social apathy and poverty that the dwarfs have to contend with because of who they are.

High points: Use of striking minimalism to drive home the cataclysmic effect of politicallyinspired violence on ordinary, innocent lives

High points: A poignant performance by the male lead and a storyline marked by emotional depth

COMPANY (Hindi, 2002)

DEOOL (Marathi, 2011)

Dir: Ram Gopal Varma

Dir: Umesh Kulkarni

A fast-paced gangster film offers a fictional take on the crime syndicate lorded over by the real-life Dawood Ibrahim. Pitched as a follow-up to Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya, Company blends the grittiness of the first film with striking filmmaking flair.

Tinged with an air of comicality, Deool (The Temple) addresses a deadly serious issue – commodiﬁcation of religion in a land where large swathes of the population still languish at subsistence level. It pulls no punches. Its characters are vivid and its situations are underpinned with layers of meaning.

High points: Innovative use of sound and momentum to evoke a world in which danger lurks at every corner

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High points: Girish Kulkarni’s screenplay and on-screen performance and directorial restraint

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DOSAR (Bengali, 2006)

IQBAL (Hindi, 2005)

Dir: Rituparno Ghosh

Dir: Nagesh Kukunoor

A complex black-and-white relationship drama about love, duty and inﬁdelity told against the backdrop of an accident in which a man is grievously injured and his mistress loses her life. The ﬁlm probes the impact of the tragedy and the revelation of her husband’s betrayal has on the betrayed wife.

A rare Hindi sports ﬁlm that looks and sounds authentic and transcends the limits of the genre. Iqbal is about a cricket-obsessed deaf mute boy determined to break into the national team despite the many obstacles in his path.

High points: Rituparno Ghosh’s subtle direction and sharply etched characters

High points: A quality script, a director in ﬁne fettle and convincing performances from ShreyasTalpade and Naseeruddin Shah

JOHNNY GADDAR (Hindi, 2007)

MAQBOOL (Hindi, 2003)

Dir: Sriram Raghavan

Dir: Vishal Bhardwaj

Smartly crafted by one of Bollywood’s most accomplished craftsmen Sriram Raghavan, this thriller pays tribute to the genre in strikingly interesting ways. The plot hinges on ﬁve con artists who set out to raise a huge sum of money in order to invest it in a scheme that will double their booty.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s ﬁrst Shakespeare adaptation set the benchmark for the director’s subsequent forays. Loosely based on Macbeth, the ﬁlm journeys into the Mumbai underworld, where a ruthless don’s mistress and his trusted lieutenant get drawn into a dangerous game.

High points: Its sly twists and turns are sprung upon the audience with brilliant sophistication

High points: Thanks to a formidable cast (Pankaj Kapur, Irrfan Khan, Tabu), Maqboolgets going from the opening scene itself and sustains the momentum all through

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KATTRADHU TAMIZH (Tamil, 2007)

MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW

Dir: Ram

(English/Hindi, 2014)

Director Ram’s ﬁrst ﬁlm, Katradhu Tamizh is about a young postgraduate struggling to achieve his goals in a social and economic climate that is loaded against the common man. A series of setbacks push him over the edge of sanity. A story told with impressive control and grasp on the medium.

Dir: Shonali Bose At the heart of the ﬁlm is a young woman with cerebral palsy who surmounts all obstacles to assert her right to live on her own terms. The heroine’s voyage of self-discovery is explored without overt theatrics and informed at once with warmth and humour.

High points: Deceptively simple narrative and solid pivotal performance by Jiiva

High points: Sensitive and incisive storytelling and lead actress Kalki Koechlin’s profoundly moving performance

MUNNARIYIPPU (Malayalam, 2014)

OMKARA (Hindi, 2006)

Dir: Venu

Dir: Vishal Bhardwaj

An intriguing piece of cinema directed by awardwinning cinematographer Venu. The characterdriven plot revolves around a journalist/writer and her relationship with a twin-murder convict whose story fetches her a big publishing deal. A drama without a dull moment.

Othello gets the full-on Vishal Bhardwaj treatment in a drama set in India’s northern badlands where a gang leader commits crimes at the behest of a local politician. Also in the mix are indigenous avatars of Cassio and Iago, the latter played by Saif Ali Khan.

High points: Top-notch performance by lead actor Mammootty and sharply etched characters

High points: A strong screenplay, intriguing characters and riveting performances

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OTTAAL (Malayalam, 2015)

PULIJANMAM (Malayalam, 2006)

Dir: Jayaraj

Dir: Priyanandanan

A skillful adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Vanka set in the lush environs of Kuttanad in Kerala. The ﬁlm explores the relationship of a boy with his grandfather, his only living relative in the world, and with the natural surroundings.

A leftist is all set to stage a play about the legend of a low-caste man who defies the gods and assumes the form of a tiger to bring a crazed king to his senses. The man finds his own fight against obscurantism and political oppression of the poor in no different from that of the mythic figure he is trying to bring to life.

High points: The director brings a rare authenticity to the story transported across time and geography. Stunning cinematography by M.J. Radhakrishnan

High points: An evocative blend of myth and reality that delivers a trenchant commentary on a society coming apart at the seams

PAPANASAM (Tamil, 2015)

SHAHID (Hindi, 2013)

Dir: Jeethu Joseph

Dir: Hansal Mehta

The Tamil remake of the director’s 2013 Malayalam hit Drishyam, Papanasam is a suspenseﬁlled drama about a man who stops at nothing to save his family from being jailed for the disappearance of a senior police ofﬁcer’s son who harassed his daughter.

Shahid brings to the big screen the life and career of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi, who, in 2010, was killed in his Mumbai office by rightwing goons. The film lays the facts on the table without pointing accusatory fingers. What emerges is the vulnerability of all crusaders in a system that abhors status quo-breakers.

High points: A riveting screenplay replete with twists and turns and a top-draw performance from Kamal Haasan

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High points: Rajkumarr Rao’s restrained performance and Hansal Mehta’s sure-footed, empathetic approach to the character LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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SONCHIDI (Hindi, 2011)

TRAFFIC (Malayalam, 2011)

Dir: Amit Dutta

Dir: Rajesh Pillai

Sonchidi is a complex, challenging ﬁlm about a search by two travellers for a ﬂying craft that they believe could liberate them from the cycle of life and death. The theme is of a piece with director Amit Dutta’s continuing cinematic exploration of the interplay of human memories, hopes, apprehensions and desires.

This innovative thriller is rightly regarded as one of the defining films of the new wave Malayalam cinema. Director Rajesh Pillai constructed multiple strands around a single incident. Traffic is a dynamically crafted and brilliantly plotted film that is at once raw and refined.

High points: Prahlad Gopakumar’s magniﬁcent cinematography and Amit Dutta’s deeply meditative ﬁlmmaking style

High points: A ﬁrst-rate screenplay, sustained directorial meticulousness and great performances

TAMIZH PADAM (Tamil, 2011)

VICKY DONOR (Hindi, 2012)

Dir: C.S. Amudhan

Dir: Shoojit Sircar

Tamizh Padam is a laugh riot that takes parodic potshots at the conventions of commercial Tamil cinema. Nobody (and nothing) is spared in this acerbic take on the bizarre devices that popular ﬁlms resort to in order to tell bloated, larger-thanlife stories.

The owner of a Delhi fertility clinic is looking for a sperm donor who can turn around the fortunes of the business. His search ends with the eponymous protagonist, but the latter’s relationship with the woman that he loves goes into a tailspin as a result of his new calling.

High points: The courage of director C.S. Amudhan stands out – he takes on the sacred shibboleths of his own industry

High points: Director ShoojitSircar treats an unusual theme with sensitivity and dollops of humour

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SUBRAMANIAPURAM (Tamil, 2008) Dir: M. Sasikumar Produced, written and directed by M. Sasikumar, this gritty, suspenseful Tamil-language drama set in 1980s Madurai hinges on four unemployed friends who drift into the world of political violence and are torn apart in the process. Gripping from the word go.

High points: Impressive direction, sharp editing, and unerring recreation of period details

VISARANAI (Tamil, 2015)

VIHIR (Marathi, 2009)

Dir: Vetrimaaran

Dir: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

A searing look at police brutality and the sheer randomness with which the ‘system’ picks up victims and grinds them into submission, Vetrimaaran’s Visaranai is about four Tamil migrant workers in Andhra Pradesh who are hauled up by the police for a robbery they did not commit.

A deep introspection on friendship, loss and coming to terms with grief, Umesh Kulkarni’s Vihir(The Well) tells the story of two temperamentally different cousins who grapple with the demands of life, family relationships and growing up. Each does so in his own way, leading to unexpected misgivings – and a tragedy.

High points: The realistic texture and the eschewal of melodrama enhance the hammer blows

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High points: Subtle and deft directorial style, lush cinematography and effective acting by the young actors

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BREAKOUTS

AA MUTTAI (TAMIL, 2014)

Director: M Manikandan In Kakkaa Muttai (Crowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Egg), two young brothers lose their playground to a new pizza outlet. They now dream of having a bite of a pizza. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a problem: a pizza costs more than what their family earns in a month. An outstanding directorial debut by cinematographer M Manikandan.

High points: Endearing central characters and trenchant social commentary couched in narrative simplicity

101 CHODYANGAL (Malayalam, 2013) Dir: Sidhartha Siva 101 Chodyangal (101 Questions) provides a view of the world through the eyes of a young boy whose factory worker-father has lost his job. There is little around him to cheer him up, but the boy keeps using his imagination to make sense of the dismal environment.

High points: Profoundly moving story and remarkably restrained acting by the principal cast

ADAMINTE MAKAN ABU

ANHEY GHOREY DA DAAN

(Malayalam, 2011)

(Punjabi, 2011)

Dir: Salim Ahamed

Dir: Gurvinder Singh

Adaminte Makan Abu (Abu, Son of Adam) is about a poor perfume seller who has only one aspiration left in life – he wants to visit Mecca. He sets about putting together the resources he needs to make the trip but his mission is not as simple as it seems.

First-time director Gurvinder Singh’s experimental ﬁlm, based on an acclaimed novel of the same name, is an intense evocation of life, or of what is left of it, in a poverty-stricken, socially oppressed village whose inhabitants have little to look forward to.

High points: Effortless storytelling; evocative cinematography (Madhu Ambat), a ﬂawless screenplay and a pitch-perfect central performance (Salim Kumar)

High points: It is as stark as it is lyrical, and is marked by an evolved cinematic idiom

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ASHA JAOAR MAJHE (Bengali, 2014)

ASTHAMAYAM VARE

Dir: Aditya Vikram Sengupta

(Malayalam, 2014)

A remarkable debut film by Aditya VikramSengupta, Asha Jaoar Majhe (Labour of Love) is about a day in the life of a Calcutta couple struggling to make ends meet in the time of an economic recession. No words are exchanged between the two unnamed characters – they meet only once and fleetingly at that – but the film says a lot about the anomalies of urban existence.

Dir: Sajin Babu

High points: A beautifully crafted ﬁlm that comes as close to pure cinema as any Indian ﬁlm has done in years

A debutant director pulls an unusual rabbit out of the hat – a Malayalam ﬁlm without any background score and minimal dialogue. Two boys are arrested after the death of a choir singer in a seminary. What follows is a fragmented narrative that takes place in an unspeciﬁed time and location.

High points: Its abstract but evocative setting and the deep, resonant exploration of man’s relationship with nature

CHENNAI 600028 (Tamil, 2007)

COURT

Dir: Venkat Prabhu

(Marathi/Gujarati/Hindi/English, 2014)

Woven around street cricket rivalry in a Chennai locality, director Venkat Prabhu’s first film deals with the themes of friendship and teamwork in aunwaveringly realistic manner. The film’s surprise success catapulted a whole bunch of young actors and the director to stardom.

High points: The endearing quality of the characters and the utter believability of the story

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Dir: Chaitanya Tamhane First-time director Chaitanya Tamhane lays bare the ways of the Indian legal system, mirrored in the hapless plight of a folk poet charged with abetting the suicide of a municipal gutter cleaner. Court makes its point with great force and precision without resorting to conventional dramatic devices.

High points: Sure-handed direction, a ﬁne script and convincing characters

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CROSSING BRIDGES (Sherdukpen, 2014) Dir: Sange Dorjee Thondok The ﬁrst-ever ﬁlm in Arunachal Pradesh’s Sherdukpen dialect, Crossing Bridges is about a man who returns to his village after losing his job in Mumbai. As he awaits news of new openings, the serene rhythms of his own culture force him to rethink his priorities.

High points: The ﬁrst-time director imbues the languid ‘coming home’ drama with both warmth and urgency

EK HAZARACHI NOTE

FANDRY (Marathi, 2013)

(Marathi, 2014)

Dir: Nagraj Manjule

Dir: Shrihari Sathe An impoverished village widow, who has lost her husband and son in debt-related mishaps, is showered with big denomination currency notes by a vote-seeking politician. With the kind of liquidity that she has never seen, the woman sets out for the market. But life has other plans for her.

High points: Debutant director Shrihari Sathe’s subtle touches and lead actress Usha Naik’s empathy-inducing performance

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Staring caste inequities in a part of rural Maharashtra in the face, Fandry is about a pig-catcher who falls in love with a girl he can never get. But in his youthful enthusiasm, he believes that he stands a chance. The ﬁlm reﬂects aspects of the growingup years of the writer-director Nagraj Manjule.

High points: Stark, hardhitting and disturbing, the ﬁlm presents an unﬂinching portrait of a benighted world that is rarely seen in Indian cinema.

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FROZEN (Hindi, 2007) Dir: Shivajee Chandrabhushan Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s Frozen is an austerely shot black-and-white film set in Ladakh. A sprightly teenage girl lives with her father, an apricot jam-maker, and her kid brother in a remote Himalayan village. Their life is disrupted when the army moves in and sets up camp yards from their home, bringing conflict within sniffing distance.

High points: Low-key, naturalistic ﬁlmmaking is backed by aptly restrained acting.

GABHRICHA PAUS (Marathi, 2009)

Dir: Satish Manwar Gabhricha Paus (The Damned Rain) is set in the drought-hit Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, where an impoverished peasant ﬁghts the odds stacked against him but without success. His wife does her best to keep his spirits up, but the situation on the ground militates against his quest for a good crop.

High points: Satish Manwar’s controlled direction and the pivotal performance by Girish Kulkarni

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HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY (Marathi, 2009) Dir: Paresh Mokashi A highly engaging recreation of the circumstances in which Dadasaheb Phalke made Raja Harishchandra, whose release in 1913 officially marks the birth of Indian cinema. It is shot in a style that reflects the way films were made back in those days without any camera movements.

High points: Storytelling at its simplest and most effective. All credit to writer and director Paresh Mokashi LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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HARUD (Urdu/Hindi, 2010) Dir: Aamir Bashir Harud (Autumn), an impressive directorial debut by actor Aamir Bashir, is a disquieting tale about a Srinagar youngster grappling with the unexplained disappearance of his elder brother and the impact of the event on his aged parents. Contemplative and melancholic but hard-hitting.

High points: Its realistic, docu-drama feel puts the plight of common people in a conﬂict zone into sharp relief

ISLAND CITY (Hindi, 2015)

KANYAKA TALKIES

Dir: Ruchika Oberoi

(Malayalam, 2013)

Few Hindi films have captured urban alienation quite as brilliantly. Through an anthology of three separate but linked stories, the film delves into a fast evolving city where means of communication are multiplying but genuine emotions are difficult to articulate. The film is about Mumbai but could be valid for any modern megalopolis.

High points: Outstanding cinematography – each segment has a different texture; ﬁne editing; and impressively calibrated performances 68

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Dir: K.R. Manoj Made by award-winning documentary ﬁlmmaker K.R. Manoj, Kanyaka Talkies (Virgin Talkies) is the story of an old, dilapidated movie theatre that is turned into a church. The ﬁlm probes the politics of cinema, human desire and religion in a historical as well as contemporary context.

High points: It offers a thought-provoking take on a rarely explored aspect on Kerala’s engagement with cinema.

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THE LUNCHBOX (English/Hindi, 2013) Dir: Ritesh Batra Director Ritesh Batra’s maiden feature found takers virtually all around the world after it garnered unstinted encomiums at the Cannes Film Festival. This unusual love story of a lonely widower and a middle-class woman despairing for her husband’s attention is about Mumbai, food, urban alienation and starting over.

High points: Magniﬁcent scripting, evocative portrayal of a city on the move, and a clutch of super performances

KHOSLA KA GHOSLA (Hindi, 2006)

Dir: Dibakar Banerjee Director Dibakar Banerjee’s debut film is a family drama that lays bare the plight of a middle-class Delhi man whose plot of land is encroached upon by a powerful hustler. A small film with big impact, Khosla Ka Ghosla was a magnificent entertainment package.

High points: One of the ﬁnest, subtlest comedies made in Mumbai in a long, long time

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MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER (Hindi, 2007) Dir: Navdeep Singh Director Navdeep Singh’s debut is an engaging and startlingly effective probe into small-town Rajasthan where corruption and crime are rampant. An engineer and struggling novelist turns into an amateur investigator to wrap his head around a web of lies, deceit and murder.

High points: The ﬁlm’s realistic texture is reinforced by strong, earthy dialogues and superb acting LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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MASAAN (Hindi, 2015)

NATARANG (Marathi, 2010)

Dir: Neeraj Ghaywan

Dir: Ravi Jadhav

Debutant director Neeraj Ghaywan, working with a screenplay by Varun Grover, captures the ancient city of Benaras torn between tradition and modernity. Realism and restraint mark the drama about four individuals who struggle to come to terms with pressures brought on by social and emotional upheavals.

Ravi Jadhav’s directorial debut Natarang, set in the world of Maharashtra’s folk theatre, is the story of a working class man who sets up a theatre. Destiny forces him to defy his own masculinity and society’s expectations to don the role of an effeminate character on the stage.

High points: High quality acting; insightful study of smalltown dynamics in a rapidly changing India

High points: Flawless adaptation of a successful novel and outstanding performances by Atul Kulkarni and Kishor Kadam

OZHIVUDIVASATHE KALI

PEEPLI LIVE! (Hindi, 2010)

(Malayalam, 2015)

Dir: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan A fluidly constructed cautionary tale with a shocking finale, Ozhivudivasthe Kali (An Off-Day Game) peels off the veneer of bonhomie that five friends on a day off in the country project. As the day progresses, they begin to reveal their true colours – they aren’t edifying at all.

High points: With minimum fuss, the director paints a dark, disturbing portrait of caste and class divides in Kerala

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Dir: Anusha Rizvi In a small village in Madhya Pradesh, a debtridden farmer is desperate to save his land and his family. Pushed into a corner, he decides to commit suicide. His announcement sparks off frenzied and wholly misplaced reactions from the media, the politicians and government ofﬁcials.

High points: A scathing expose of India’s agrarian distress and the ham-handed ofﬁcial response to it

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PHORING (Bengali, 2013)

SHIP OF THESEUS

Dir: Indranil Roychowdhury

(Hindi/English, 2013)

The protagonist of Phoring is a boy growing up in a remote, sleepy North Bengal town that has survived the closure of a factory. The ﬁlm is a sharp and sensitive study of an unusual character. The protagonist hears voices in his head. An unconventional teacher begins to expose him to things unknown. One day, she vanishes…

Dir: Anand Gandhi Among the most strikingly original ﬁlms to come out of India in years, Ship of Theseus tells three interlinked stories about a visually impaired photographer, a terminally ill monk, and a pushy stockbroker. The ﬁlm questions notions of identity, belief systems and ways of seeing.

High points: First-time director Indranil Roychowdhury’s self-assured storytelling and characterizations

High points: Seamless blend of disparate plot elements, outstanding direction and ﬁne performances

THITHI (Kannada, 2015)

TITLI (Hindi, 2015)

Dir: Raam Reddy

Dir: Kanu Behl

Thithi is a wryly comic, sharply observant portrait of a small south Indian village where a centenarian dies, sparking off a scramble for his plot of land. In the running are the old man’s octogenarian son and his avaricious, good-for-nothing grandson. Pensive and evocative.

Set in a Delhi in the grip of a ‘development’ frenzy, Titli is the story of a dysfunctional lower middleclass family grappling with inter-personal issues that frequently assume the form of brutal violence. The youngest of three siblings has an urge to escape this hellhole. But can he?

High points: A cast of amateur actors who seem to be playing themselves and striking directorial skills by debutant Raam Reddy

High points: Intelligent use of thriller elements to paint a precise socio-economic portrait of people on the fringes of a rapidly expanding megalopolis

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LONE RANGERS

STANLEY A DABBA (HINDI, 2011) Director: Amole Gupte A children’s tale written and directed by Amole Gupte, who also plays one of the key onscreen roles. Set in a Mumbai school, the ﬁlm is about a creative schoolboy who is loved by his teachers with the exception of one, who resents the fact that the protagonist’s friends share their lunch with him.

High points: The purity of the storytelling is bolstered by great performances by the young actors as well as the adult members of the cast

I AM KALAM (Hindi, 2011)

KAALER RAKHAL

Dir: Nila Madhab Panda

(Bengali, 2009)

A young boy works in a highway food joint but dreams of going school, ﬁred by his love for books. He befriends a lonely prince who lives in a sprawling mansion. The growing bond between the two boys across the social and class divide that separates them opens doors for both.

High points: The relevance of its social message and the simplicity of its storytelling style

Dir: Sekhar Das A rare contemporary Bengali ﬁlm that directly addresses the political skull duggery that is rampant in rural parts of the eastern Indian state, Kaaler Rakhal is about an itinerant performer who, owing to his poverty is sucked into a twister of ruthless exploitation by those in positions of power.

High points: Highlights a unique cultural aspect of Bengal while exposing the depredations of the political class

LITTLE ZIZOU

PAAN SINGH TOMAR

(Hindi/Gujarati/English, 2008)

(Hindi, 2012)

Dir: Sooni Taraporevala,

Dir: Tigmanshu Dhulia

The scripter of acclaimed Mira Nair ﬁlms such as Salaam Bombay and The Namesake made her directorial debut with this delightful drama about two feuding Parsi families in Mumbai and an 11year-old soccer-crazy boy who dreams of meeting his idol Zinedine Zidane in person.

By far one of the best biographical ﬁlms ever made by a Mumbai director, Paan Singh Tomar eschews established storytelling conventions and delivers a punchy, deeply affecting real-life story of a champion athlete forced by rural inequities to become an outlaw.

High points: Little Zizou is vibrant, touching, warm-hearted and uplifting, a rare believable cinematic portrait of the Parsi community

High points: A top-draw performance by Irrfan Khan as the eponymous character and sure-handed scripting and direction

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QISSA (Punjabi, 2013) Dir: Anup Singh A victim of the Partition of India, desperate for a son to carry on the family name, drags his wife and youngest daughter into a destructive vortex. Director Anup Singh blends solid naturalism with surreal strokes to craft a haunting tale about the pitfalls of patriarchy.

High points: Superb acting by Irrfan Khan and the rest of the cast and afable-like tale that leaves a deep imprint on the mind

SHABDO (Bengali, 2013)

SWADES (Hindi, 2004)

Dir: Kaushik Ganguly

Dir: Ashutosh Gowariker

Shabdo (which, in Bengali, can mean either ‘word’ or ‘sound’) is the story of a Foley artist who is trapped in a world of ambient sound and becomes incapable of registering human voices around him, including that of his exasperated wife. An unconventional story told with skill, subtlety and sensitivity.

Written, produced and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, Swades was a worthy follow-up to his Lagaan. It is justiﬁably regarded as one of the most ‘complete’ Bollywood ﬁlms ever made. A NASA scientist of Indian origin returns to his roots and inspires his remote north Indian village to produce its own electricity.

High points: Director Kaushik Ganguly’s handling of an unusual theme and lead actor Ritwik Chakraborty’s ﬂawless performance

High points: Shah Rukh Khan’s un-starry star turn; skilled blend of social philosophy and mainstream entertainment

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

e are delighted to present the latest issue of Pickle to delegates at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and Market. This is the ninth edition of Pickle for Cannes Film Festival and Marche delegates. We have picked the Best Indian Films of the New Millennium (2001-2015) that showcases the variety, cinematic excellence, new narrative and brilliance of the outstanding filmmakers across Indian languages. It is not dominated by celebrities or one particular Bollywood genre, but brings out the excellence and best minds in Indian cinema. With the proliferation of emerging distribution platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, the contemporary filmmakers have a wider reach beyond geographies and to reach out to filmbuffs across the globe. We hope all the 100 films listed by us will soon find a place in the various digital platforms. We will also help you connect with a producer if you are keen to screen the film in film festivals or for distribution. Interestingly, Amazon Prime hold the US rights to Woody Allen’s Cafe Society, the opening film at 69th Cannes Film Festival. They also have rights to around

four films in the Competition Section. While we will continue to experience cinema in darkness, a new medium is emerging for artistic directors to exhibit creations in Virtual Reality. Days are not far away to experience the largeness of the directors’ emotion and vision in new platforms. Two Indian films are part of the official selection at Cannes -- Director’s Fortnight (Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0) and Cannes Classics (documentary film The Cinema Travellers by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya). India’s quest for being in the Cannes Competition Section continues since 1994. The last Indian film to compete for coveted Palm D’Or at the prestigious gala was Shaji N. Karun’s ‘Swaham’ in 1994. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in partnership with FICCI is organising the India Pavilion (112, Village International, Riviera). The Ministry has set up the Film Facilitation Office to facilitate as a one stop shop for shooting locales and obtain permissions without hassles. In the market area in Palais, CII will showcase film locales and regional cinema. Feel free to email your view on the Best 100 Films of this New Millennium.

n vidyasagar pickle media nvidyasagar@picklemag.in, www.picklemag.com

Pickle Volume IX 7th edition Published by Pickle Media Private Limited Email: natvid@gmail.com O Mumbai O Chennai No.2, Habib Complex Dr Durgabhai Deshmukh Road RA Puram CHENNAI 600 028

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Editorial Coordinators : M Sai Email: natvid@gmail.com

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