Realism falls out into Indian movies

MUMBAI: There''s something bizarrehappening to Indian cinema. If you look at some of the new Indian movies today,you might just find yourself in it. It''s highly irregular, not to mentionrefreshing and madly intoxicating. Realism has stumbled out of the closetand into our movies at last. We now have films for audiences who are notembarrassed if their brains tag along to the movies. Life beyondheavingpanting in snowy landscapes and NRI girlfriends in lycra minis singingbhajans? Puhleeze don''t raise our hopes, we might just swoon.Three newfilms in the Film India Worldwide section of the International Film Festival ofMumbai—Prakash Belawadi''s Stumble, Ram Madhvani''s Let''s Talk and V KPrakash''s Freaky Chakra are redefining contemporary Indian cinema.It wasItalian (and other) neo-realism that ignited our parallel cinema movement of the70s and 80s, but more often than not, our realism translated into rural-basedsocial critiques.One of the rich ironies of the Indian parallel cinemamovement is that, while it engendered cinema we are fiercely proud of, stilllargely remained films about People Like Them (PLTs), not People Like UsPLUs).There have been films imbued with a fresh young sensibility likeHyderabad Blues , English, August, Dil Chahta Hai, Mitr-My Friend, KandukondainKandukondain and now Aparna Sen''s Mr and Mrs Iyer and Rituparno Ghosh''s Titli.They are peopled by PLUs—city people with city preoccupations, bodylanguage and verbal language—usually an English more than willing to bepromiscuous. They have been chipping away at the arthouse fence, but they havebeen so few and far between.While the characters of Everybody Says I''mFine and Snip were from PP3—Planet Page — Stumble and Let''s Talkhave no neo-sheo pretensions and their characters could well be in your ownkitchen, bedroom or mirror.Stumble is effective and moving preciselybecause it cuts so close to the bone. A finely observed human portrait of thesoftware bust in Bangalore, this debut feature gradually gathers assurance.It focuses on a family where the father, who has taken VRS, loses his lifesavings of Rs 12 lakhs in a government mutual fund that goes bust, the brilliantsoftware techie daughter is laid off amid skulduggery at her office, and the sonwho is also laid off in the US, returns to the family fold. It is up to themother to hold the family together.The film is somewhat heavy handed as ittakes on political corruption, corporate crookery and sexist attitudes. Even so,it lets a warm liberalism creep in, as the alcoholic father accepts hisdaughter''s relationship with her boyfriend. There are no happy endings,but the small triumphs are so hard won that you applaud this ordinary middleclass family even as you feel the sting of salt in your eyes.While notgreat cinema, Let''s Talk is nonetheless a hugely refreshing revelation forIndia. Originally shot on a digital video camera, the film is about a couplecoping with the fact that the wife is pregnant by another man. Boman Irani putsin an extraordinary virtuoso performance. It''s hard to think of anotherIndian actor since the early 90s, who has taken our breath away as he does, withKurush Deboo in Such a Long Journey coming close, along with Atul Kulkarni andManoj Bajpai. Again, a fine ear for everyday dialogue and intimate,conspiratorial cinematography elevate this film.Freaky Chakra is a fun,teenybopper film with a few good laughs, but a rather simplistic, sexist story.It features Deepti Naval as an eternally crochety single woman, who blossomswhen a young whelp seduces her, and goes back to square one when he''s gone. Itbristles with MTV style hipness, and has wacky veejay Ranvir Shenoy playingsutradhar.Decent PLU index. Still, we see plenty of single women aroundwho blossom without boyfriends, even as they eternally wait for love—pasmal considering that love and Godot are pretty much the same thing thesedays.Prakash Belawadi''s ''Stumble'' is a moving, finely observed humanportrait of the software bust in Bangalore.