ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2011, DAY 2: A DAY TRUCATED AT BOTH ENDS

The lucre of mainstream cinema can sometimes turn irresistible. Like a fool, I forsook, the first two films for today to attend a first day first show screening of Don 2 playing at a nearby cinema hall. To add insult to injury, when I landed up at the venue, I learnt that the opening film 11 Flowers that was screened on Day 1 was open to the public. It wasn’t just an invitee-only event like MAMI.

Plaza Cinema at Dadar which has been home to this festival for quite some time now has been given a miss this time and Ravindra Natya Mandir has doubled up as a cinema hall to provide two good screens for the films. The moment I landed there, I headed straight for Shaji Karun’s Piravi. It has an old man as the protagonist and the pace is befitting his age. He sets out in search of his missing son who may or may not have been captured by the police. I was immediately reminded of Adaminte Makan, Abu which is also a leisurely paced movie about an old man on a journey.



Each year, this festival pays homage to an Asian Master Director. This year its Yasujiro Ozu whose films I have never seen. Thanks to The Consulate General of Japan who has lent his films, we are able to see and acknowledge the auteur that he is. I saw Early Autumn, a seemingly simple tale about an ageing man who rekindles an old affair much to the chagrin of his children. The film seemed very fluid, almost rhythmic. Later, when I read an article on Ozu by Arun Khopkar in the festival booklet where he has explained Ozu’s technique, it because clear to me why the film seemed what it seemed. I recommend you read that piece before watching any of Ozu’s films if you really want to appreciate his cinema.

I have this formula I use at festivals that goes something like this: Chinese Film + Long Title = Good Film. This proved to be handy when I chose Woman From the Lake of Scented Souls over Gumrah. Director Xie Fei was present and felicitated. I would have congratulated him too because his film was just too good. A woman who runs a sesame oil mill has to put up with a good-for-nothing husband and an epileptic son. Business is good but her personal life is in shambles. The lead actress Gaowa Siqin is true to life in the challenging lead role.

The day was to end with another of Ozu’s films. But I mistakenly ventured into the screen that was to play Charulata. Under some guise or the other, every film festival in India sneaks in a Satyajit Ray film. As I had already seen it before I started to walk out when lead actress Madhabi Mukherjee walked on stage. Stayed back till she was done saying a few word and then made a dash for the other screen. The film was Early Spring but it was late in starting. Five minutes into the film and the reel went kaput. After 15 minutes of an agonizing wait, decided to join many others walking out. A few faithfuls were braving it out by staying back. Probably they stay close to the venue.