A DEATH IN THE GUNJ

Due to a very lucky coincidence I was in Delhi yesterday and was able to watch this exquisite film there, it hasn’t released in Jammu. So what is so exquisite about it? It has the same quality to it that a good piece of literature has; the storyteller really wants you to know this story, as well as she knows it.

We have all been “Shutu” (central character played by Vikrant Massey) at some point in our lives; we all have known a “shutu”, we all have used our “friendly” abuse of machismo on a younger cousin, a junior, a friend, a victim. We don’t care how our playing the “alpha male” of the group, effects the weakling and for what? To assure ourselves of our masculinity on the expense of someone vulnerable than us. If a person is born with a pair of testicles, he is a man, he don’t need to prove it.

This film talks about the self-approval that men need of their masculinity, (the "you need to man-up" talks) it also deals how even the more “independent” women play with the same rules and could be as narrow minded about masculinity, (In one scene Mimi (Kalki’s character tells Shutu, “you are so pretty, you could have been a girl"). It talks about a lot of things resembling a talk in the lawn after a sumptuous lunch on a lazy, sunny winter afternoon. It talks really well and talks “exquisitely”.

The best thing about the film is definitely Konkona Sen Sharma’s direction, she is a sure, composed and mature director, nowhere has it appeared to be her first film.The setting and the era is so well placed, the British Raj hangover and its contrast with the local tribal people (which is very subtle) thankfully this one doesn't show tribals "Daanavs" or their women seducing the "city babus" which is the popular notion in "civilized" society.
All the departments, production design, costume, camera, music(Ah! what music) are in-sync with the story they all are telling together and never overpower each other. Amidst actors like Om Puri, Ranveer Shorey, Tilotama Shome, Tanuja, Gulshan Deviah, it’s Vikrant Massey who steals the show as “Shutu”. He is there every moment, he breathes as Shutu, you want to talk to him, you want to play the father figure he craves for and tell him he is alright and you care. You want to care for him and show him that you care.

Please, please if you ever think of “Indian cinema is shit n all” it’s because these films don’t get good enough release but those of you who have it playing in their cities, please don’t wait for the torrent or Netflix, watch it in Cinema Hall because that is where good Cinema belongs. It’s definitely not the greatest film ever made, but what makes it beautiful is that it doesn’t makes any such promise. It is what it is, a story the storyteller really wants to share.