A different beast
The White Tiger is an adaptation of Aravind Adiga s 2008 novel of the same name. The film deals with caste politics and showcases the rich-poor divide that exists in India. It offers a commentary on what’s wrong with our country, where even after so many years of democracy, the mighty still rule over those with lesser means. In the film’s somewhat lopsided worldview the only way up for the poor is through crime and politics. Director Ramin Bahrani has made the film for Western audiences. Hence, all we see is abject poverty at one hand and high-society lifestyle on the other. It’s as if the great Indian middle class, which is driving the world economy forward by its buying power, simply doesn’t exist. This division into the haves and have-nots is too simplistic indeed.
Pallabi Dey Purkayastha
Story: In order to keep his band-baja business afloat, Bharat Lal (Pankaj Tripathi) approaches a local bank in Uttar Pradesh for a loan. Soon after, he realises that his uncle and his sons have declared him legally dead and snatched his share of the piece of land that the family had jointly owned.
Review: When they joke about nasbandi (vasectomy) and the Emergency losing steam, it dawns on you that the setting is late 70s. And during that remarkable period in the history of India, there lived a man – in a small hamlet in the northern part of the country – who was stripped off his family inheritance by fraudulent means. And the worst aspect of this unfortunate occurrence is that it was his own kin who had declared him legally dead over the tiny fraction of a land he co-inherited with them.
All sound, no fury
Durgamati, a remake of the Anushka Shetty starrer South film Bhaagamathie was much hyped as a new-age horror film. Alas, the claim falls flat as there isn’t one instance where you feel the tiniest amount of horror ever. In fact, the film’s attempt at both horror and comedy fall flat. The film is actually a revenge drama. And given the premise, it would have worked nicely if the director had gone about his business in a straightforward manner. The highly convoluted plot is the biggest obstacle to the film. And so is the lethargic pace. The length could easily have been trimmed by one hour. The director has tried to put too many things in it. There’s a farmers’ protest at one level, then there’s a quasi-religious angle involving the theft of ancient idols. One character even says out loud that the government’s lethargy on the subject of stolen idols is an assault against ‘Hindutva’. On the other hand, we have the familiar tale of corrupt politicians