Best Director in A Regional Film
Why is Regional
cinema being touted as the champion, why is it becoming much, much better than
Hindi Cinema; the de facto flagship bearer of Indian films?
Because of the
visionary at the helm, the visionary and his vision. His grand vision, his
powerful vision, his true vision, his profound vision, his simple vision.
Every visionary has
his/her vision and these five make bold stamps and statements with theirs.
Here are your
nominees for The Best Director in A Regional Film…
Aditya Vikram
Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe [Labor of Love]
The director is
known as the captain of the ship, yet in Vikram Sengupta's case; he is the
whole freaking ship!
The man takes up
every role imaginable in the film, short of acting. It unifies the vision of
his film and the narrative of his script into a seamless product. Can it also
become suffocating and indulgent? Yes.
However credit where
credit is due, to Sengupta who never makes the film feel stagnant but gives it
a lyrical beauty to grow into a piece of art. He makes the space for his actors
explore their performances in their base natures of just expression while also
allowing other elements to play; from the cinematography [which he aids in] to
the music. It's a true blue but unselfish director's film.
Avinash Arun for
Killa
In a year going from
strength to strength, Avinash Arun has left a profound statement!
The fact that Kill
isn't on the best film list, should not be an indictment on its power to be one
of the best films of the year. It is and brilliantly so, because its beating
heart makes us understand a child's growing traumas/pains is so true thanks to
the efforts of its director.
Arun takes a game
cast and crew into a poignant journey that tells of what is actually a very
human and at times [if seen in comparison to the world/society at large]
selfish [is internalized a better word?] but eventually important phase of our
existence, with deft hands.
His handle on his
topic is terrific, his mastery of the craft especially painting a beautiful
visual canvas is sublime and the performances he is able to extract are
truthful. Arun in his breakthrough year is more than just his stellar
cinematographer, with this Marathi film; he becomes a complete package and
delivers the same.
Chaitanya Tamhane
for Court
Has any director as
such stepped up in his debut film and created such a storm like Chaitanya
Tamhane, that too from a non-Hindi language film?
It's hard to
remember. Tamhane reflects the ideals that for a filmmaker, any filmmaker; it's
important to observe, understand, analyze and make sense of the world and
society around them.
He is a right film
maker because he makes the right statement on topics that affect us in the now.
True objectivity is hard to attain for a filmmaker yet Tamhane fulfills that;
focusing his lens on every character that converges in his film with a dignified
and unbiased approach, while letting loose every person under him to play the
narrative and its themes and social statements with complete clarity and
objectivity.
We call films
realistic without maybe truly understanding the point we make, to make it sound
like a profound and right film. Court isn't realistic, but real and this is
because its director is such. I wait with bated breath to see where Tamhane
goes next.
Anup Singh for
Qissa: The Tale of A Lonely Ghost
Bringing together
his childhood penchant for listening to culturally rooted folk tales, the pains
of a people banished from their lands that resonate generation after generation
and the complex issues of gender discrimination, identity crises and patriarchy
that sadly resonate till today. Anup Singh crafts a film that has heart, mind
and soul.
In a film with such
deep complexities and notions to ponder on, Singh manages to bring about a
technical finesse that paints the film as its own chilling yet painfully true
folk tale.
Structuring it as
such allows him to give an emotional crux to his narrative, portrayed by his
well etched characters and extracted from his performers with some well
mastered queues and understandings of the human psyche; specifically the
identity crisis that befalls both Umber and Kanwar.
It's a tight ship he
reigns in even when the film takes the turn for the supernatural and still
feels credible to his vision without diluting the thematic argument he is
putting forward. This is a captain with his ship set firmly on course.
S.S. Rajamouli for
Baahubali: The Beginning
[Foregoing the
atrocity he as the leader of his film commits against Avantika's character-the
dubbed Rape-Gate]
In a sea full of
rookies, Rajamouli the veteran brings something a bit different and right in
his wheelhouse. Fantasy/Mythological Period films are a risk that filmmakers
rarely take, not so in the South but even then rarely.
Rajamouli has opened
the flood gates; catapulting him right into the stratosphere with his grand
idea anointing him a visionary for the ages. A film in the day and age of
social media rarely gets to make a statement before naysayers are dissecting it
for mistakes or supporters hype it to the point of oversaturation.
Make no mistake, the
same did happen with Baahubali. Yet Rajamouli still stands because he builds a
myth from ground up with such conviction, finesse and mastery; one cannot help
but stand up for applause. It's a phenomenon unlike anyone has ever seen in
Indian cinema and at the center of it is one man and his aspirations and
dreams.
And the Winner is…
Chaitanya Tamhane
for Court!
Each of these men is
a winner no matter what in what has been a strong race for cinema around India
. The fact that four are debutantes just exemplifies how great Indian cinema is
going to get in the near future.
Up Next: Which film
picks up the BIG ONE? The HIndie Award for Best Regional Motion Picture!!!
'Nuff Said
Aneesh Raikundalia
No comments:
Post a Comment