Director: Chaitanya Tamhane; Writer: Chaitanya Tamhane; Producer: Vivek Gomber, Kishor Sawant, B.S. Narayan Swamy; Cinematographer: Mrinal Desai; Editor: Rikhav Desai; Cast: Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Shirish Pawar, Usha Bane, Arpita Chate, Bipin Maniar, Panna Mehta, Mansi Multani, Jyoti Patel
Duration: 01:51:15; Aspect Ratio: 2.393:1; Hue: 45.825; Saturation: 0.035; Lightness: 0.283; Volume: 0.092; Cuts per Minute: 1.141; Words per Minute: 66.761
Summary: The film examines the Indian legal system through the Mumbai Sessions Court trial of an ageing protest singer, Narayan Kamble (Vira Sathidar), who is accused of encouraging a manhole worker to commit suicide through one of his folk songs. Narayan Kamble is an ageing folk singer living in Mumbai who has been marked by the authorities as a dissident. Kamble’s latest charge is for inciting the suicide of a sewage worker through the allegedly seditious lyrics in his songs. With no evidence and few witnesses, events unfold in a lower Mumbai courtroom, shedding a cold light on the justice system in contemporary India. Alongside this, glimpses into the lives and minds of Kamble’s defence lawyer, the prosecutor and the judge illuminate the personal prejudices, corruption and ultimately injustice still prevalent in the shadows of the system. Tamhane’s debut feature places this convincing narrative within the context of a country full of contrasts: modernity versus tradition, wealth versus poverty, young versus old, with both humanity and humour.
Indiancine.ma requires JavaScript.