It’s women power at LFF

Lalit Mohan Joshi

The 62nd BFI London Film Festival, which begins on October 10, is screening films from 75 countries with a strong presence of women filmmakers. “We are proud to say that 38 per cent of the programme is from women directors, up from 24 per cent last year,” claims Tricia Tuttle, artistic director of the BFI London Film Festival. This feminist dominance is even more pronounced in the selection of Indian films. Four out of six Indian films are by women.

Nandita Das’ biopic, Manto, is sold out. The iconic status of Saadat Hasan Manto, both among Indians and Pakistanis, is partly responsible for the hype. Another factor is the expectation from the filmmaker and actor Nandita Das. The London diaspora remembers her work Firaaq (2008) as well as her performance in films like Fire (1996) and 1947 Earth (1998, Deepa Mehta).

Das’ film charts Manto’s struggle as he attempts to make sense of the harsh realities of two wounded nations. One of India’s greatest actors, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, plays maverick storyteller Saadat Hasan Manto, who had a profound impact on post-colonial writing in the subcontinent. As the British partition India, violence engulfs Bombay (Mumbai). Young risk-taker Manto works as a writer in the film industry, but with attacks on Muslims increasing, Manto feels compelled to make the most difficult choice of his life.

London-based media consultant, Rakesh K Mathur feels strongly about Dar Gai’s Namdev Bhau, which is about an ageing man, getting sick of noisy Mumbai. “I left Bombay for the same reason. I was also sick of [the] synthetic world of the Hindi film industry.”

Thoughtfully paced and with terrific performances, Dar Gai’s second feature confirms her as an exciting new voice in contemporary Indian cinema, delivering a beautiful portrait of an old man, who is tired of life and sick of pretending otherwise. Mathur also recommends another Indian entry, Leena Yadav’s Rajma Chawal. The film portrays “social media stricken Indian youth and also provides a new perspective on an age-old problem of generation gap.” In Old Delhi, a father decides to get his teenage son’s attention by posing as a pretty girl on social media.

How much can your dad screw up your life? In this warm-hearted romantic comedy, Bollywood star Rishi Kapoor plays a clumsy, well-meaning father who has just lost his wife. Director Leena Yadav masterfully interweaves refreshing portraits of Indian youth with stunning cinematography.

Another Indian entry Tumbbad, is truly a scary horror film by Rahi Anil Barve. Vinayak is the conniving illegitimate son of a local landlord, living in the decrepit, ancient village of Tumbbad. Obsessed with unearthing a fabled ancestral treasure, he suspects that the secret lies with his great grandmother, a cursed witch who has been trapped for centuries in a purgatory between life and death. Tricking her, he discovers the secret that will lead him to the riches, but also a voracious, otherworldly force. What begins as a cunning plan to steal a small fortune quickly spirals into a reckless obsession that finds Vinayak facing up to an unexpected and hair-raising reckoning.

Feminist policing, Indian style: Ivan Ayr’s refreshing debut Soni considers the solidarity between a fiery female officer and her superior. Soni cycles through night-time Delhi with a catcaller on her tail. She veers into an alley and he seems to have captured her, until she lands a wallop that breaks his jaw. As the live bait in police sting operations, Soni has a role that calls for self-defence, but the young officer’s hot-headed temper leads to charges of recklessness, threatening her career.

Among the series of short films, Sandhya Suri’s short film The Field is unusual. Bound by a loveless marriage and unable to continue a secret relationship with a seasonal farm worker, one woman finds joy where she can.

“At a time where sexual violence against women in India is hitting the headlines with increasingly heinous acts, my film is about a woman taking and owning her own desires. It is not about what is done to her, but rather what she chooses to do.

It is a viewpoint we’ve rarely seen on screen, a life-lived that is barely acknowledged. From the childhood years I spent in India and as a documentary-maker, I have known and worked with women and girls in the most oppressive, seemingly impossible situations. Repeatedly I have been amazed by their small victories, their strength of character and the intelligence with which they manoeuvre to find room for themselves and to seek joy. It is this that inspires me.”

— The writer is a London-based film historian and founder director of South Asian Cinema Foundation