BOM (2012) Review by Shivom Oza – A Film That Questions The Establishment!

4/5 Stars

‘BOM’ (with taglines as interesting as ‘One Day Ahead of Democracy’ and ‘Why Ban the Holy Weed?’),  is a documentary, shot, directed and edited by Amlan Datta, which focuses on the remote village of Malana located in the Himalayas. The village “isolated from outside civilization for thousands of years has been fostering a primitive existence in harmony with nature and a unique model of democracy of consensus.” Also, it produces the best quality hashish in the world. The film tackles various issues ranging from mythology, superstitions, elections, village customs and traditions, cannabis, corruption, dichotomy of Indian polity among others. The most interesting aspect about ‘BOM’ is that it is absolutely non-propagandistic. The film does not offer any solution; instead it divulges all sides of the story and leaves it to the viewer to make his/her judgement. The film doles out more than a few uncomfortable truths. As a viewer, one gets acquainted with these harsh realities that the supposedly ‘backward’ parts of the country have been faced with. It is not an unknown fact that a country like India is filled with paradoxes. Our country inhabits the richest and the poorest, the modern and the backward, the saints and the sinners and more importantly, those possessing virtues and those possessing vices. At the beginning of the film, a character talks about there being two mountains, Mt. Virtue and Mt. Vice. In the beginning Mt. Virtue towered about Mt. Vice by quite a humungous margin. However, over the years, as the world has grown to become more negative, Mt. Vice has overtaken by a comfortable margin. It is said that the day Mt. Virtue disappears; the world will come to an end. This sequence appears right at the beginning of the film and gets the viewer into ‘introspective’ mode from the word go!

The documentary is among the best Indian documentaries made in this year (releasing in India in 2012). While it makes no judgement at the end, the vast amount of exposure it gives to this unheard village of Malana, is in itself evidence enough that something is not going right in this country. The tagline ‘One Day Ahead of Democracy’ is a poignant message in itself. Malana may seem ‘backward’, ‘uncivilized’, and ‘rural’ to us urbanites. However, what needs to be taken into consideration is whether the people of Malana have been given enough opportunities. The film makes you reflect and how! It is definitely a must-watch. By the trailers or the promotions, the film may sound as one that’s about legalization of cannabis. However, it goes on to talk about much more. Director Amlan Datta’s exceptional research, keen eye for detail and his brilliant comfort level with the villagers of Malana works wonders for this lovely documentary. The length of the film is just about fine. Long enough to encapsulate all the aspects of Malana along with the Indian democracy itself, and just about short enough to keep you thoroughly engaged.

The ‘protagonist’ of the film is Hemraj. The young man, like most other inhabitants, has spent his entire life in Malana, cut off from the other parts of the country. The people of Malana have their own culture, traditions, and ways of electing chieftains, lifestyle and sadly, their own limited means of livelihood. Most transactions in the village occur through the centuries-old barter system. They have their own system of giving out judgements and their democracy allows every individual’s opinion to be taken into consideration (quite contrary to the present state of affairs in our country touted to be the ‘world’s largest democracy’). The foundation of their civilization, popularly believed to be descendants of the Greek soldiers in Alexander’s army, is based on trust. And since, a given word is considered as gospel, the villagers have brushed aside formal education as well. The villagers have been producing the best quality hashish since several decades. Cannabis has been growing in this region since time immemorial, owing to the grace of Lord Shiva. They’ve used it for medicine, footwear, smoking, consumption etc. However, owing to disconnect with the outside world, the Malana inhabitants have never really known the true value of hashish. They have only traded with sheep wool and it is not enough for them to make ends meet. Apparently, some foreign tourists, back in the 70s, taught the villagers how to rub the cream and hence, prepare the more potent hashish suitable for the international market. This led to the recognition of the Malana cream around the world making it more like a home industry. However, the government used its muscle to bring those, who were breaking the law, under the judicial process. This leads to the government taking an active interest in the apparent ‘uplifting’ of the village. Dams are built, elections are held, bridges are constructed, and electricity, automobiles, cellular phones, educational devices are brought in, while laws relating to cannabis are still kept intact. So while Malana is opening up to the outside world, there is no real source of employment for its people besides cultivation of cannabis. Owing to their financial constraints, people such as Hemraj are forced to get involved in the illegal trade, unaware of the fact that if bought to book, they will be faced with the stringiest punishment possible. The film is about this state of doldrums that Malana finds itself in. To choose between the life inflicted upon them by the government (which, added by the corruption and the opacity in the bureaucracy, is only making it difficult for them) and their own age-old lifestyle which they have grown to become so comfortable with. Director Amlan Datta gets varied opinions from across the board. From the villagers in Malana, you get opinions from people as diverse as the 103-year-old head priest Vudeiram, erstwhile Chief Ministers of State, local politicians from the Congress and the BJP, his own brother-in-law Shanta who gives away profound thoughts about the state of affairs (albeit in a high state).

All perspectives towards the sole topic of inconvenient modernity v/s convenient age-old tradition have been brought out well. The political fervour given to the film towards the end, wherein you have excerpts from the speeches given during election rallies, do rev up the documentary a bit. The contradictions in the speeches of politicians such as Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi will definitely lighten you up. However, the sheer double standards of our politicians will give an immense amount of pain as well. India is a vast country. Cultures, geography, history, languages, traditions, lifestyles across the country are immensely different from one another. Having read up in detail about the making of the world’s largest democracy, there is tremendous amount of respect for the makers of our glorious country. At the same time, the state in which we find ourselves now is quite appalling. Most of our countrymen talk about ‘change’. People in Malana are talking about being ‘resistant to change’. Now, whether to leave people as they are, or to use force to get them attuned to the ways of the rest of the country, is a highly debatable topic. While one may think that the people of Malana should be left alone, the others may get up and say that some of their methods are actually old-world and unacceptable in today’s day and age. Now as tempted as the protesters may be to say that ‘who is to decide what should/should not change?’, it must be remembered that we are a functioning democracy. ‘Change’ can take days, months, years, decades, centuries, millenniums, or sometimes even minutes. Talking about it doesn’t really yield any results. All one gets is fake reassurances. The people of Malana are left in such difficult circumstances that the current situation can either make them or break them. Thoughts go out to this little village, lost somewhere on the enormous map of our country! Malana is the one of thousands of other such villages that has remained disconnected with the outside world all these years, and suddenly find themselves in the middle of our deteriorating democracy. The discussion is left wide open.

Hemraj’s wife Kekti has been sentenced to ten years imprisonment for trafficking hashish. She was never aware about the laws and now, suddenly she has been exposed to this strange world of ours, which truly is becoming a difficult place to survive in. ‘BOM’ is a poignant, thought-provoking film. Watch it and get enlightened.

Shivom Oza

Liv & Ingmar (2012) Review by Shivom Oza – Cinematic Love Story!

3.5/5 Stars

Liv & Ingmar is a documentary on the 42-year-old relationship between legendary actress Liv Ullman and the master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. It was screened at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival as a part of The Real Reel section.

It's an immensely touching documentary on the romance, separation and subsequent friendship between the two cinematic legends. The archive footage has been tailored in beautifully as have the scenes from the several films in which they worked together.

Liv and Ingmar met in 1964, lived together for five years, had a child and worked in 12 films. Five decades on, following Ingmar's death, the love has still not died down. The documentary is predominantly interspersed with interviews of Liv Ullman. She speaks about her relationship with Ingmar over 4-5 major aspects. They are Love, Pain, Anger, and Friendship and so on. She speaks about the time that she spent with him at his famous house on an island in Sweden.

She speaks about the good times and the bad times leading to their eventual separation. She also talks about coping up with the separation and pursuing a career in Hollywood subsequently. She goes on to talk about how she bumps into Ingmar again and a friendship ensues!

The concept of the film is quite brilliant. With a balanced screenplay by Dheeraj Akolkar and fine editing by Tushar Ghogale, you don't realize how the 83 minutes breeze past. The music by Stefan Nilsson is touching in parts and when required, escalates the tension in the film as well. It's extremely courageous of Liv to come out and talk about a few uncomfortable aspects about her relationship. You could see that she was overwhelmed while talking about the physical violence and the indifference shown to her by Ingmar during the latter phase of their 5-year-old romantic liaison. It's really gutsy of her to come out and present truth the way it was.

It's a sensitive, touching portrayal about a true love story. Relish it and take something back.

Shivom Oza

Stories We Tell (2012) Review by Shivom Oza – Stories Well Told!

3/5 Stars

Filmmaker Sarah Polley, in ‘Stories We Tell’, has doubled up as a detective to discover a few untold family secrets. However, while filming the movie, she comes to terms with a few uncomfortable truths which leave her in a quandary.

The Canadian film, a part of 'Special Presentations' at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012, was screened at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival. Although the film tackles a variety of issues, ranging from infidelity, liberation, coming-of-age, reunions, homosexuality, sexuality and emotional insecurity, you don't feel muddled up at all. It may not be everyone's cup of tea and digesting such a film will take a fair amount of patience but 'Stories We Tell' indeed is a good film.

Sarah has thought of putting together a documentary, featuring her close family members and family friends, wherein the interviewees, while getting nostalgic about the past, reveal a few uncomfortable truths. Sarah, for instance, is reminded of the fact that she is her mother's child from a man other than the one she considers as her father. Various sensitive topics are presented in a very subtle manner. For instance, father-daughter bonding, true love, infidelity, sexuality, family, loneliness etc. The film does not have a linear plot, so to speak, but you don't get confused at all.

While the entire cast of the film is wonderful, Sarah Polley has excelled as the director-screenwriter. The editing by Mike Munn too is brilliant. Lovely montages, close-up shots, archives, the vintage feel along with giving the contemporary times a classic touch. The nuances have been captured wonderfully by Iris Ng, the Director of Photography.

‘Stories We Tell’ is a sensitive film. It may not be everybody's cup of tea. However, if you give it time, it will force you to think about your own loved ones. Whether you can really forgive, forget and move on. The film is, in essence, about acceptance. Acceptance of facts, circumstances, emotions, love or the lack of it!

Shivom Oza

Fire In Babylon (2012) Review by Shivom Oza – Touch And Go!

2.5/5 Stars

One can seldom get it wrong when you have the likes of Vivian Richards, Michael Holding, Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Jeffery Dujon among other West Indian greats to give you a first-hand account of how a bunch of boys got together to form one of the greatest cricket teams of all-time.

The film 'Fire in Babylon' had all the prerequisites for a truly memorable documentary. However, somewhere in the middle, the plot is lost and so is the purpose.

The film revolves around the resurgence of the West Indies cricket team during a period when Blacks were not given equal rights in the society. It shows how the success of the sporting team gave hope to countless other West Indians that they can be world beaters too. The initial bits focus on the erstwhile migration of the present day West Indians from Africa during the colonial period. It talks about how the blacks were relegated to the position of being slaves in a country ruled by the Whites. Even after the Caribbean islands regained independence, the position of any inhabitant in the society was heavily dependent on the colour of his/her skin. Even cricket was considered to be a sport dominated by the Whites. The captain of the West Indies cricket team was a white and so were most of the officials of the cricket board. At the same time, the neighbouring United States of America was undergoing a process of change under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., and the sentiment passed on to the Caribbean islands as well. The blacks, who were facing oppression of unimaginable magnitudes, needed a spurt of inspiration from somewhere.

Cricket, a sport which was interred within the soul of the Caribbean, united all the islands which were so different in all the other aspects, be it language, clothing or culture. The West Indian team of the 60s, although embellished with all-time greats such as Gary Sobers, Everton Weekes and Learie Constantine, lacked the winning spirit. The players used to consider cricket a fun activity and never took winning seriously. However, during the early 70s, a young team led by Clive Lloyd realized the perils of not being tough enough when they received a drubbing at the hands of the Australian team. The two bowling machines, namely Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, wreaked havoc over the visiting West Indian side. They abused, injured and annihilated the visiting side and pushed them to a corner. Clive Lloyd, being an astute thinker and a true leader, did not get bogged down by the defeat. He understood the significance of genuine fast bowling and so, got greats such as Holding, Roberts and Croft to form a world-class pace attack. From then on, the West Indies were unstoppable. They started with the Indian series and from then on went on to win one tournament after another. Issues that have been interspersed within the sporting exploits have been about how the triumphs of the cricket team had a positive impact upon people back home and other Caribbean migrants who were living in other countries. The cricket team’s domination was instrumental in instilling a feeling of pride in the hearts of the West Indian people.

There are various instances brought to light in this documentary – apartheid in South Africa, meagre payment to the players, World Series organized by Kerry Packer etc. Each of them is conveyed through the journey of this great West Indian side. Stars such as Vivian Richards, Michael Holding, Gordon Greenidge, Colin Croft and Andy Roberts steal the show with their impeccable articulating skills. They truly exhibit the emotions that the members of the great side must have been through during this wonderful phase of 15 years when the West Indian side did not lose a single series. There are few songs thrown in the documentary as well. Initially, the reggae add a lot of flavour to the on-screen proceedings but it got tedious as the lyrical tributes keep getting longer.

There has been wonderful use of archives in the documentary. It must have been quite a tough ask to assemble all the footage for this film, many of which dates back to colonial times. The bowling actions of the pace bowlers, shown in slow motion, look beautiful on the big screen. However, this particular visual of a fast bowler running in swiftly towards the bowling mark and delivering a thunderbolt is repeated often in the film. This, in my opinion, was unnecessary.

Also, there is one particular sequence in the film which talks about how the Indian team was so anguished by the injury-inflicting bouncers of the West Indian pacers that they refused to play and declared the innings prematurely. This instance was accompanied with visuals from ‘India v/s Australia’ series of 1981 during the Melbourne test match when the Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar walked off the field after being abused by Dennis Lillee. The advertising boards (which had ‘Benson and Hedges’ written on them) clearly suggest that series in question was in Australia and it has been inaccurately shown as a visual in an India-West Indies series. A documentary has to be accurate. If you don’t have the visuals, do not carry the story. It was indeed misleading to see a fuming Gavaskar shown to be protesting against West Indies when that was clearly not the case. This minor but significant mistake took a lot of credibility off the film.

Anyway, the director Stevan Riley should be lauded for incorporating such a brilliant concept. The execution left a lot to be desired though. The film seems to be driving home the same point time and again throughout the duration. The message of the ‘blacks being given equal rights’ in the society is driven innumerable times. While it was important to bring home the point of racism, it should have been either at the end or too far in between. In the end, the film neither ended up being a good cricket documentary nor a great cultural one. Barring the Gavaskar goof-up, most of the footage is quite accurate. The archives bring about most guffaws and cheering from the audiences. The film gives you a good idea about the history of the West Indies cricket team along with interesting information about the country itself. However, the emotion got lost somewhere in the middle. So much so, that even Bob Marley, whose footage features towards the closing stages of the film, fails to enliven the interest of the viewer.

The documentary does not impress you either as a cricket lover or a film buff. There’s too much inconsistency in the screenplay. You may be enlightened by this film, but you won’t be moved. There’s a lot of nostalgia in there, with all the West Indian cricketers coming together but you will have to bear a lot of other inconsequential stuff, if you watch this film strictly for the cricket. To use a cricketing jargon, ‘Fire In Babylon’ is a case of ‘touch and go!’ (First Posted in MSN)

Shivom Oza

Supermen Of Malegaon (2012) Review by Shivom Oza – Brilliant, Not Recommended For Everyone!

4/5 Stars

First things first, this film is a documentary. So read on, if that kind of cinema interests you. Secondly, it embodies the making of a film titled ‘Yeh Hai Malegaon Ka Superman’, which was made in the year 2008. You do not need to watch ‘Yeh Hai Malegaon Ka Superman’ to understand ‘Supermen Of Malegaon’. The latter is an independent story in itself.

The film, one-hour-long, is about Malegaon, a small town tucked away in northwest Maharashtra. The town has been divided into two sides – one where the Hindus stay and the other where the Muslims reside. It has been troubled by continuous communal tension as well as a large part of the population is immersed in poverty.

Hence, to escape this harsh reality, the people of Malegaon have a sole source of entertainment, cinema that they have cleverly coined the term ‘Mollywood’. The film focuses on the various video parlours that run around the town and provide the natives a chance to catch a glimpse of the glitz and glamour of Bollywood, inspiring them to go for 100-rupees-worth Shah Rukh Khan-like-haircuts and 151-rupees-worth Sanjay Dutt-like-hairstyles. Filmmakers in Malegaon do not aspire to be strugglers in the Hindi film industry. Instead, they want to make their own films and entertain their town folk. These people are not aware about the number of people it takes to make a film. For them, one man conceptualizes, writes, directs, edits, finances as well as does make-up for the film. They harbour their dreams of creating films by making spoofs of existing films. For example, ‘Sholay’ becomes ‘Malegaon Ke Sholay’, ‘Shaan’ becomes ‘Malegaon Ke Shaan’, etc.

However, one such filmmaker Nazir Shaikh collaborates with his team of writers (Akram Khan, Farogh Jafri and Shakeel Bharati) to make a superhero film. According to Nazir, Batman is no great shakes, and Superman is the real deal. They want to make their protagonist fly, with the use of ‘karoma’ (chroma) on a shoe-string budget of Rs.50,000, arranged from taking loans, product placement (Yes, and that too of a local dairy ‘Lalle Milk Centre’). Their Superman is a feeble man named Shafique (unfortunately, he passed away last year), who despite his limitations, aspired to become Amitabh Bachchan. The film is about how these people come together to make film, in which their leading hero can fly! Their dream is to make ‘Yeh Hai Malegaon Ka Superman’, a film that they can truly be proud of! 

This film is about how they struggle to put this thing together, and on their course, face permission problems, financial, logistical and casting issues galore! A story wonderfully put together by the director Faiza Ahmad Khan. Add to that, the music by Sneha Khanwalkar and the immaculate editing of Shweta Venkat (both of whom have recently worked in ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’)! The film manages to capture special moments, which come together brilliantly in the narrative. Since the duration of the film barely runs to an hour, the turn of events engage you throughout. Technically, the film is flawless and does deserve all the accolades. Making-of films are not performance-based. However, a lot depends on the questions that are put forth to the interviewees in the documentary. Quite a few of them are dry-humoured and rhetoric, giving the entire documentary a fun element. Overall, the film is very well conceived, and Faiza has indeed been very fortunate having made a documentary on a film, that has received unprecedented popularity in recent times. 

Many aspiring as well as current filmmakers will relate to the situations that the people of Malegaon go through, to make their movie. Certain moments are dramatic, some are guffaw-worthy, and a handful number of them are absolutely rip-roaring. Kudos to PVR’s Director’s Rare for supporting this film, it deserves all this recognition and well, a lot more!

If you’re a film-buff, don’t mind documentaries and want to have a good time, watch ‘Supermen Of Malegaon’! (First Posted in MSN)

Shivom Oza