210 minutes!!!

"Kolkata Film Festival" -- a pride of our city!

This year, in the 14th edition, cinemas from allover the world were shown in 11 different venues across the city!

Me and my friends went to 'Priya' on the 15th november! Show was from 2.30 p.m.


It was "Three Monkeys" (Üç Maymun) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a turkish director, who got the best director award at the Cannes this year!

Ismail is a young, aimless boy whose life undergoes rapid changes since his father Eyp accepts the blames for his bBoss's deed and goes to jail!
Ismail starts to live his life with his mother Hacer, who one day gets herself trapped into that Boss's physical intentions for the sake of money, which he promised to give to Eyp's family in his absence!

One day Eyp comes back! Boss denies Hacer's feelings, denies the past relationships! Ismail takes revenge, murders the boss!
Eyp, after knowing all these, goes to Bayman, a tea seller, to request him to take the blame for Ismail's deed and promises a lot of money!

... film ends here!

Film had everything!  A relatively everyday story, an unique exploration of the dark side of love... violence...uncomfortable silences, betrayal, broken hearts! We gather more from emotions & ambiance than the story! The inherent silence... unspoken tension... husband-wife/ mother-son relationships...3 monkeys! 3 people, who didn't have any other choice... a great film!!!

[109 minutes]

We gave ourselves a break, a few more friends joined us! Next show was from 5 p.m!


It was "Firaaq" by Nandita Sen, an impressive actress! Believe me her debut film is more impressive!

It's 2002, state of Gujrat! It is another riot, another conflict between Hindu & Muslims!
The film is very catchy from it's very start! Two Muslim men digging a mass grave for the victims, where one man goes wild seeing a Hindu woman lying on the ground, he goes to take revenge with the dead Hindu flesh!

Film basically shows the emotions of 5-6 people, directly-indirectly affected by riot. Hanif and Muneera, a Muslim couple with an infant (poor, one should say) return to their home they fled during the violence, they find it ransacked! The barbarism- the betrayal from their neighbors(???)...shatter their lives!

There are moral changes in Aarati, a wife of a middle class family! A little orphan Mohsin(Mohan??!!) comes to her house! She discovers the sufferings, that the 5-6 year boy is talking about... he has lost his family, still he is searching his father with his innocent eyes!

An old Ustad, Khan Saheb! Who doesn't believe in racism, his only religion being music! Suddenly finds his music hasn't got the power to omit the differences between casts!

Sameer Seikh, Anita Desai, intermarried couple find themselves strange in the civil society, faces the tension they have long suppressed!

Firaaq shows hell pity mentality of a class of people, of police, of the administration! It shows the struggle of the deprived men to survive! Sympathies-values are gone from today's life! It's a bold movie, hail director! Truly you have to see the film to realize the real world, the cannibalism in the name of racism! Well, the topic is nothing new, but the approach is really impressive! Hardly showing any violence, any blood...director creates a unique feeling in viewer's mind... Amazing...indeed!

[101 minutes]

~210 minutes... i spent there... worth remembering!!!