My first film festival! MAMI 2016

A twitter handle I follow was discussing privilege today, a concept I spend a lot of time thinking about. So its apt to write about a film festival from a point of view of privilege. Its a privilege, that I live in a world where films are accessible to enthusiasts and I got to attend one such festival in Mumbai recently.

An admirer of the core team of Mumbai International Film Festival, I always wanted to attend it. I casually asked KT if she would like to attend it and just like that we booked our passes almost a month ago. The schedule got out more than 2 weeks before the festival. With pen, paper and google maps in front of us, we started chalking out a plan to maximize watching movies and minimize travel time. The good part was the festival movies were being screened at 5-6 theaters (most of them PVRs). Since we were interested only in movies and not other stuff like sessions, interviews, panel discussions etc, it made planning easier. We had short listed 7-8 movies before the schedule came out, that we wanted to watch, so we kept on revolving around those choices. Unfortunately some of our short listed movies were not at the locations we wanted or were not being screened till day 4. (I was going to attend it only for 3 days, because work and the fact that I live in Pune and cannot ditch office for so many days! :-( ) Still, we managed to chalk out a pretty good plan for the 3 days. Every day the online pre-bookings would open at 8 am for the next day so that you could pre register for a film and get a guaranteed seat. On day 0 and day 1 there were some glitches with Bookmyshow, but we nevertheless managed to get tickets for all the movies we wanted to watch. Walk-ins were also allowed based on availability, if you showed up directly at the theater.
Without going into much background I'll dive straight into what we watched and my views on what I felt of the movie.

Death in the Gunj
Trivia (you can skip) - It was the opening film of the festival. The screening was at Regal, Colaba. Its a mecca for old cinephiles cos of its charm and 'town feels'. The show was to start at 7 pm. We reached well in advance to collect our MAMI pass/id, but decided to grab a bite at a cafe nearby. The rules were simple - if you had pre-registered, you were supposed to report 15 mins in advance and stand in queue. By the time we got back from the cafe, the queue had circled to the back of the theater. So, many people had pre-registered! We got in line only to find out that the show was not going to start before 7.30 pm. Being the opening film, the entire crew was going to show up so there was going to be red carpet entry. We patiently waited and after all security checks got inside Regal by 8 pm. Its the most well behaved and polite crowd I had seen in a long time. No raised voices, angry rants, only patient waiting till we were showed inside. The cast and crew arrived by 8.30 and a brief thank you and introductions from Konkona Sen Sharma (the director) the show finally began! I was sitting in the theater with the entire cast and crew of the movie for a movie screening, a first for me! It felt kind of unreal. Another thing I observed was no one bothered anyone from the cast and crew before or after the show. The festival crowd is my idea of random people I want to watch movies with on a regular basis (as weird as it sounds).
My views on the film - It's a good debut movie. It's clean, belongs in good hands and has a heart, most times in right place. But the writing to me felt under developed. I could not feel anything for any characters. Few characters were straight uni-dimensional. The casting, acting, background score, relationship between tani and shutu worked really well for me! Sadly nothing remained with me once the movie was over. I guess that's what I was hoping for. But its worth a watch.

Neruda
Trivia (you can skip) - We watched it on day 2 at Regal. It was a 3.15 pm show, where we reached once again before time. This time there was a very short queue so we got great seats at the balcony. Regal's seating capacity is 1100+ and they also had seats reserved for Regal royalty, the press and gold members. Despite that we got good seats. Win! 
Pro tip - no need to pre-book tickets for a show at Regal.
The show started at sharp 3.15 pm. I know it sounds sacrilegious, but I dozed off for a minute during the movie, because of the accumulated tiredness from the night before (had reached home at 2 am after watching Gunj).
My views on the movie -  Neruda is a story about an imbecilic policeman in search of Neruda who is on the run and in hiding. It is a must watch. Its surrealistic storytelling works because of the flawless editing. At some point you are not sure if you are a character in a book or real. At least I felt so. There is a particularly stunning scene where a performer talks about his meeting with the famed Neruda. If it does not move you let me know. And if you dig Spanish language and the accent like I do, you'll enjoy it even more. A lot of people I follow on twitter are saying that this movie may win an Academy award or two. Reason enough ?

Lo and Behold - Reveries of a connected world
Trivia (you can skip) - It was scheduled on day 2 at PVR ECX at 8.30 pm. After a change of local trains from Regal, and ricksaw ride later we were at the Citi mall. We decided to grab a quick dinner at the food court at the adjacent Infinity mall (the PVR at infinity was also another screening location btw). We got back to ECX by 8.15 and were met by a long queue outside the auditorium. KT decided to go and ask at the entrance what this queue was about and the volunteer told us that it was for walk-ins and the pre-registered folks were already inside! We tried to explain her that we did not realize there were 2 lines so would she let us go. But she stood by the rule and asked us to get back in the walk in line. I am always impressed when people follow rules to make things fair for everyone. Fortunately we got in and found really good seats (again!). Our neighbor was also chatty and we exchanged quite a trivia and reccos before the movie began.
My views on the movie - It was a documentary by Wener Herzog. And it worked for me. Aside from the fact that I work in software technology, as an active user of the internet, I often wonder about what this all means. It explores all aspects of the web, reminiscing how it came into being, where its going, whether we got it right, what the future will be like, will it work on Mars etc etc. Herzog's voice is so haunting that it made some of the topics it focused on quite think-time worthy.

Elle
Trivia (you can skip) - It was our first movie for day 3, scheduled at 10 am at PVR ECX. We made it to ECX by 9.45 am only to find long security check queue at the entrance. We heaved a sigh of relief, as they let us use our pre-booking privilege despite the walk-in line. Also, ran into Varun Grover at the security check. Fangirl win! The movie started at sharp 10 am.
My views on the movie - Without going into any details, its a movie about rape. Elle was twisted and brilliant. It took down all my standard notions around the topic and trashed them. The script, director and the protagonist just refused to treat 'Michele/Elle' as the victim. Also, Isabelle Huppert deserves many a nominations and subsequently awards for her matter of fact yet bold portrayal of Michele. They have created a character which cannot be deconstructed without giving oneself a headache. Great writing, great direction. I just cannot stop thinking about the movie.

The salesman
Trivia (you can skip) - My last movie of the festival. It was a 5.15 pm show at Regal. After Elle, we grabbed a lazy lunch at a thali place and kept on discussing the movie. Why did she do this, why did he do this, what was that, what was this, so on and on. We reached Colaba well in advance so did some roadside shopping to take our minds off Elle. Again grabbed some great balcony seats at Regal.
My views on the movie - It's classic Asghar Farhadi. Finding conflict in urban lives and stretching regular people to their limits. Arthur Miller's 'death of a salesman' is the central theme of the movie. The lead pair of the movie play the salesman and his wife in the movie. How a change of house, brings about a drastic shift in their relationship, is what the movie focuses on. There are moments of great tension and empathy and you just want to make everything work for everyone. This is a movie of how than what. I also felt the movie really was about an old man (who is a salesman in the film). Another great watch from the master.

I also wanted to watch certain women, endless poetry, after the storm, my life as zucchini and red turtle at the festival. (this list is making me exceptionally sad btw) But could not because regular work life calling me and I needed to return to Pune. May be next year I'll plan a pilgrimage to Mumbai for the 7 days of the festival. Until next year then ?

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