I could only watch
twelve movies at the 14th edition of the Habitat Film Festival
(HFF). In the three editions since I started attending the festival, I have
seen a total of forty-five movies. I had written about the 2017 experience here.
I couldn’t write any post in 2018, but it was truly special, as I got a chance
to meet Gulzar Saab and also got an autograph on his novel Do Log.
Anyway, here are the
films I watched this year at HFF—ranked in the order of least to most favourite.
12. K Shivarudraiah’s Ramana
Savari (Kannada)
The most excruciatingly boring movie at the festival for me.
A simple story with an outdated treatment, weak performances and poorly shot.
11. Arup Manna’s Aamritayu
– The Quest (Assamese)
Made on the budget of
just INR 2 Lakhs, this film didn’t engage me much except in the last fifteen
minutes.
10. Kamakhya Narayan
Singh’s Bhor (Hindi)
Bhor highlights the problems of patriarchy and open
defecation (an issue which was also shown in the films like Toilet-Ek Prem
Katha, Halkaa, and more recently Mere Pyare Prime Minister), which a Musahar (a
scheduled caste community) woman from Nalanda (Bihar) has to deal with. The
engaging characters and some strong performances made it watchable. It is the
debut feature film of the director and the lead actress, Saveree Gaur.
9. Sanjoy Nag’s Yours
Truly (Hindi)
Based on the story The One That Was Announced by Annie
Zaidi, this lovely film is the tale of a lonely woman (played by Soni Razdan)
in her late fifties who finds herself in love with the voice of the railway
announcer.
8. Praveen Morchhale’s Widow
of Silence (Urdu)
Like the director’s last
feature Walking with the Wind (2017),
this film is also set in Kashmir, has mostly non-professional actors (except
the lead which was played by the superb Shilpi Marwaha), natural sound and
no background score/songs. This film portrays the life of a Muslim
half-widow who is attempting to get her missing husband’s death certificate
from the government.
7. Sanal Kumar
Shashidharan’s Unmadiyude Maranam (Death of Insane) (Malayalam)
Sanal’s latest film
opens with the disclaimers like “No God or religion will be hurt by this film”
and “This film does not intend to promote any kind of dreams”. This
experimental film comes from the traumatic experience he had with the CBFC and
the government with his last feature S Durga. Unmadiyude
Maranam is set in the dystopian future where seeing the dreams is illegal
and anti-national.
6. Kabir Chowdhry’s Mehsampur
(Punjabi/Hindi)
Its story is about a
filmmaker Devrath who wants to make a film about the lives and assassination of
the controversial Punjabi singing duo Chamkila and Amarjot. The treatment is
quite surreal and audaciously original.
5. Jeeva’s Richter
Scale 7.6 (Malayalam)
A beautiful film centered
on the father-son characters.
4. Dar Gai’s Namdev
Bhau: In Search of Silence (Marathi/Hindi)
This spectacular film
tells the story of a chauffeur in his sixties, who is tired of the noises in
the city life of Mumbai, and decides to leave everything in the search for Silent Valley.
3. Shareef Easa’s Kanthan
— The Lover of Colour (Ravula)
This film focuses on the
lives of the Adiya community—a group of tribal people living at Thirunelli
Colony in Wayanad, Kerala (the place from where Rahul Gandhi has been elected
as a Member of Parliament, recently). Titled after the central character, this
film is a tonic for the eyes.
2. Ashvin Kumar’s No
Fathers in Kashmir (English)
The version played at
the festival was the one director had originally intended for. (The theatrical
version was heavily censored. Glad I didn’t see it then.) Set in the conflict-ridden
Kashmir, this film tells the story from the point of view of a teenage British
Kashmiri girl Noor, who along with a local Kashmiri boy Majid, tries to unravel
the mystery of their disappeared fathers.
1. Madhu C. Narayanan’s Kumbalangi
Nights (Malayalam)
A super entertaining
film about a dysfunctional family of four brothers, who live in the island of
Kumbalangi, near Kochi. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I missed out on many
acclaimed movies such as Bulbul Can Sing,
Naal, Dithee, Nagarkirtan and Bhonsle. Hope I’ll get a chance to catch these films
somewhere soon.
