in Mahesh Narayanan MalikThe sea is an integral part of the film’s story. Through its protagonist, Ahmadali Suleman (played by Fahadh Faasil), a migrant, we delve into the story of the evolving relationship between the local communities in the nearby coastal villages of Ramadapalli and Edavathura. The sea forms the backdrop of friendship, romance, betrayal and bloodshed in a gripping drama.
“All my stories come from my environment, not from any literary work. i could not set Malik Anywhere other than a seaside village because the sea is an integral part of the conflict in that story. Location is an important part of my films,” says Mahesh.
His most recent film, arippu, is no different. It is about an immigrant Malayali couple working in a medical glove manufacturing factory in Noida. The importance of geography is evident in this film as well. Because we see how language, culture, terrain and climate can drive people apart. The film is also set during the peak phase of COVID-19, which made it an apt choice to open the ninth edition of IIHS’s Urban Lens Film Festival.
After two years of going online, this year the festival is back to physical screenings. except arippuOther films at the festival include Shaunak Sen’s Oscar-nominated documentary feature all that breatheswanfrang dengdoh Lorne – The FlaneurRebana Liz John women onlyand Abuzar Amini Kabul, the city in the air,
Explaining the choice of films for this year, Subashree Krishnan, curator of the festival and a filmmaker himself, says, “We went for both fiction and nonfiction films based on being physically or tactilely in a city. deal with the situation. figuratively. Since we are living in a post-Covid-19 world, we have also handpicked films that represent the experience of the pandemic in some way or the other.
city and cinema
According to Subasree, the city and the cinema influence each other. “In RangeelaFor example, Aamir Khan speaks what you call ‘Bambaiya Hindi’, which you find people speaking in real life. However, with the dialect spoken by a star on screen, it becomes popular,” she says. “How the city is represented in cinema finds a way into the cultural lives of people, individually and collectively. . The reason behind starting the festival is to see how a city has got a voice in films through various artists and filmmakers.
wanfrang’s Lorne – The FlaneurFor example, is installed in Shillong. The protagonist of his film, Shem (Adil Hussain), navigates narrow lanes and dark alleys as he embarks on an emotional and mental journey that mirrors his and the city’s reality.
Vanfrang, who lives between Shillong and Brighton in the UK, says, “My city has been an integral part of not only my films but my entire art. Sometimes the stories that need to be told choose you. The environment in which I find myself requires me to tell a special story. A landscape nurtures a particular kind of story or a legend or a myth or even a culture.
He sees urban spaces as melting pots for people of different identities to come together, collide and interact with each other. “These spaces challenge the notion of a glorious past. They are living proof that there is no such thing as “purity”. This is very important, considering how India is reimagining itself as It is a homogeneous, one-nation identity based on a particular faith.
empirical knowledge
Since cinema can shape the way people think and carry the social and cultural history of a place, Vanfrang believes filmmakers need to be responsible when they portray a place and its people. Needed
“Many mainstream Bollywood films set in the Northeast fail because they don’t understand the character of the place,” he says, adding, “The place is always a character as opposed to a backdrop. For example , the people who make these films may not know what it feels like when you walk through butcher’s markets and smell the meat hanging there. Unless you have experiential knowledge of the place, you Can’t reinvent space.”
He says that mainstream Hindi cinema fails to understand the plurality of the Northeast. “The South of India is not a homogenous identity. There are so many different characteristics that make up the South. Similarly, there are many linguistic identities, geographical locations and cultural nuances in the Northeast. You cannot represent the Northeast by including only a few characters whose faces look a certain way.”
Meanwhile, Mahesh believes that cinema has no boundaries. The Kerala-born filmmaker can narrate the story taking place in Noida. However, he says he needs to understand the place and the people he is portraying in the film. In arippu, For example, he was familiar with his central characters, but to acquaint himself with the place, he spent two months with migrant factory workers in Noida.
When asked why he is fascinated by the stories of migrants, Mahesh says something that encapsulates the impact of a place in people’s lives: “The ease of the frail nature of human beings when you put them in a foreign environment. can be detected.”
The Urban Lens Film Festival will take place from February 16 to 19 at the Goethe-Institut/Max Muller Bhavan and IIHS, Bengaluru City Campus. Admission is free. For registration and more information visit urbanlens.iihs.co.in