Shunyota, a feature film in Bengali, has an all-India resonance that will echo across the country if and when it’s subtitled version will be screened, writes Shoma Chatterji.
Even a badly made film becomes a learning experience for the viewers because it sheds light on issues not known widely otherwise, says Shoma Chatterji as she reviews the movie Saankal.
In a terrible, but not-so-rare tragedy in rural West Bengal, 170 people lost their lives after consuming illicit liquor. But what actually happens after an incident such as this? Cholai, a well-researched black comedy, reveals the moral and social degradation that cuts across spheres, writes Shoma Chatterji.
Shoma Chatterji talks about caste and the portrayal of Dalit in Hindi cinema beginning with Bombay Talkies Achhut Kannya (1936) to Bimal Roy’s Sujata (1959) followed by many mainstream films, and the small-budget, low-key ones which have focused on this significant social issue in the past so many years.
In September 2014, Jammu and Kashmir was ravaged by floods and landslides. A brilliant documentary Kashmir Flood – Let the Vale Rise by Bilal A Jan captures the immediate after-effects of the worst floods in the state in a century that changed almost the entire topography of the state along with the lives of its residents. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.
The bi-monthly book review journal Biblio celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its founder editors - Darryl D’Monte is one of its founder editors - were invited to the Chandigarh Literature Festival-2015, which was held earlier this month. D’Monte talks about an interesting book discussion he chaired at the festival.
At a time when we're drifting away from Gandhiji and the values he stood and fought for, a film like Gour Hari Dastaan comes as a reminder of what we've lost and forces us to reflect on why. Shoma Chatterji reviews this film about a Gandhian and his fight to prove that he was indeed a freedom fighter.